Valentines' Day Secret
by ZS Fan
Summary: Just a Digimon Valentines' Day story. Yamato finds himself roped in as an unwilling participant in the girls' secret plan on Valentines' Day for their boyfriends. Taito. Side pairings of Takari, Jyoumi, Koura.
1. Valentines' Day Secret

Well, Valentines' Day is tomorrow so I thought I'd write something for Digimon and Taito and thus this fic was born :) Characters may be OOC since I didn't watch Season 2, so I hope you don't mind that canon's kind of twisted. But it was fun to write :) so...Enjoy :) My writing style's slightly different but I guess I wanted to try something new.  
>Oh and for those who're unaware, in Japan, it's usually the girls who give chocolate to the guys - the guys are supposed to return the gift on White Day (March 14th).<p>

_Suffixes:_

_-san: Used to address someone older than you, in respect_

_-kun: Used in respect, can be used to address someone younger or the same age. Usually used for boys but can be used for girls too_

_Onii-san: Big brother (informal)_

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

* * *

><p>"Yamato-kun!"<p>

Yamato blinked as a hand clapped on his shoulder. He turned to see Mimi smiling at him. "Yeah?"

"We have something to talk to you about!" Mimi said cheerfully, and Yamato then noticed she was flanked by Sora and Hikari. She winked, "Sorry Taichi, can we borrow Yamato for a while?"

"S-Sure." Taichi said, surprised. The girls continued staring at him and he blinked, getting up from his seat. He smiled at Yamato, "Well, call me when you're done."

Yamato watched as Taichi walked away towards where the other boys were gathered at another table in the cafe. He turned back to the girls, who he was now sure were smiling sly smiles which made him feel a foreboding sense of apprehension. "What…?"

"Yamato-kun," Mimi sing-songed as she plopped down on the seat Taichi had left. She was grinning widely at him, and he resisted the urge to back away a little as her almond eyes shone with an eager light, "Do you know what day tomorrow is?"

"Tuesday?"

Mimi pouted at him, "Of course it's Tuesday!" She told him, crossing her arms, "But it's also a very special day!"

"Uh…" Yamato said, unsure. He turned to Sora, who smiled at him in amusement.

"It's Valentines' Day, Yamato."

"Oh." Yamato blinked. The girls stared at him and he blinked again. "So?"

"So?" Mimi frowned, not looking too happy at him, "Aren't you going to give Taichi anything?"

Yamato hadn't thought of that, actually. The blond flushed slightly, looking away, "Well, it's not as if we need to give each other anything," he brushed off, "I mean, we're already in a relationship, so it's not as if I'm confessing to him or anything…" he trailed off, face red.

"Yamato-san," he knew Hikari was smiling, "You want to give my brother something for Valentines' Day, don't you?"

Yamato felt his face involuntarily heat up. He sighed and turned his reluctant attention back to the three girls, "Maybe."

"So cute!" Yamato winced as Mimi squealed for a reason he didn't want to know, and watched warily as she leaned forward towards him, "We have the perfect solution for you, Yamato-kun!"

Yamato smiled sheepishly, twitching inwardly. "Right…thanks but I don't think I really want to know…"

"Don't scare him, Mimi-chan." Sora's voice was filled with wry amusement and she was grinning as she turned to him, "It's not that bad really, Yamato-kun!"

Sora was grinning, grinning without reserve- it was definitely bad; Yamato decided. He also decided he wanted no part in the girls' plan but didn't get to voice his opinion as they shared a knowing glance and then turned their attention back to him, leaning forward in synchronized feminineness with identical smiles on their faces and causing him to suddenly feel very uncomfortable and very, very, afraid.

Yamato decided now was a very good time to retreat, and wondered why he hadn't done so before. The blond stood up abruptly, causing Hikari, Sora and Mimi to blink. He waved his hands, offering them a sheepish smile, nervousness on his features.

"W-Well, I'm just gonna leave now, I think Taichi's calling me," Yamato spoke quickly, as he shifted his gaze to Taichi who was in conversation with the boys. He winced as he felt the girls' stares on him, feeling his smile twitch, "See you later!"

"Not so fast!" Mimi shot out to grab his wrist in a surprisingly tight grip and Yamato reluctantly turned back to her, feeling the sense of dread deepen as Mimi grinned widely at him, a sly look in her eyes, "Taichi isn't even looking at you! Don't try to run away Yamato-kun!"

"Don't worry, we won't bite." Sora said jokingly but the look in her eyes told him otherwise.

Hikari smiled cheerfully at him, but she had the same devious look in her eyes, "We were just wondering if you wanted to bake with us!"

"Bake…?" Yamato asked warily.

"Well, we're making chocolates actually, Hikari-chan's just ambitious!" Mimi said and Hikari giggled slightly. Yamato stared at her. "You know, for our boyfriends for Valentines' Day?"

"And you want me to join in." Yamato said, the dreadful realization hitting him. Resisting the urge to twitch, he turned to Sora, who just smiled at him brightly. "Sora, you're doing this too?"

"Why not?" Sora shrugged. "I've never tried it before."

"Soooo Yamato-kun," Mimi drawled as Yamato stared at Sora in disbelief. That sly smile was on her features again, "You'll be joining us, right?"

"But I can't bake- or make chocolate – whatever!" Yamato defended himself, not liking the way Mimi was looking at him at all- it was the same look she gave him when she wanted a shopping buddy, and Yamato was not at all willing to experience any horror similar to that. No way. "I'm practically useless at that stuff!" Mimi frowned at him disapprovingly and Yamato's eyebrow twitched, "Can't I just buy chocolate for Tai-mph?_!_"

"Shhhh, not so loud!" Mimi hissed at him, her hand over his mouth. "It's supposed to be a secret! The guys aren't supposed to know!"

"_I'm a guy too, you know." _Yamato thought bitterly, but he nodded. He sighed as Mimi removed her hand, _"How did I even get into this situation in the first place?_!_"_

"It's going to be a surprise!" Hikari agreed happily, her eyes shining.

"That's right!" Sora was in tandem with Hikari, her smile wide and cheerful. She winked, "It's a secret amongst girls."

As Yamato stared, then sighed and resigned himself to his unfortunate fate with the girls, Taichi was looking over at him. The brunette frowned slightly, then turned back to the boys who were sitting at the table with him. "Hey, what do you think they're talking to Yamato about?"

"Beats me." Jyou shrugged helplessly.

Koushiro glanced at the group of girls with the blond, then returned his attention to his group, "Tomorrow's Valentines' Day, isn't it?" He asked. "Maybe they're planning something for tomorrow?"

"Probably," Takeru said. He sighed, a hand to the rim of his hat, "Hikari won't tell me anything!"

"Neither will Mimi." Jyou said sadly. He sighed along with Takeru.

"Sora's been unusually secretive too," Koushiro mumbled. He looked up at Taichi curiously, "Do you think Yamato-san will tell you, Taichi?"

Taichi looked over his shoulder at Yamato, then turned his gaze back to the front. "To be honest? No." He smiled wryly. "Yamato's good at keeping secrets. I can still try my luck though!"

"Well," Jyou said, looking over, "It looks like the girls have finished their conversation with Yamato."

Seeing Yamato walk over, Taichi shot up from his seat, bounding off to his boyfriend with a wide smile, "Yama! What were you talking about with the girls?"

The brunette blinked when Yamato flushed, averting his gaze slightly. "Nothing, really." He said in as casual a tone as he could manage.

"Anything about me?"

"N-Nope." Yamato cleared his throat succintly. "Not at all."

"Awww," Taichi pouted at Yamato, widening his brown eyes and blinking at the flustered blond, "Why are you keeping it a secret from me, Yama? Am I not allowed to know?"

Taichi watched as Yamato blushed, moving his blue eyes to meet his brown ones, "I'm not hiding anything, Taichi," he said, though his voice betrayed his nervousness. "Why would you think that?"

Taichi had always been able to tell when Yamato was lying, but he let it slide with a smile. "Well alright then. I'll find out eventually anyway!"

"Yamato-kun!" Mimi came up to them. She placed her hands behind her back, smiling sweetly, "Sorry Taichi! But I need to speak to Yamato for a while okay?"

"Again?_!_" Taichi said in mock exasperation.

"Sorry!" Mimi winked at him cutely. She turned, calling out, "Sora, Hikari! Come over here for a second!"

Taichi stared as Sora and Hikari left Koushiro and Takeru to join Mimi and Yamato. He sighed, then walked away to join the three boys who had gotten up from their seats.

"No good." Taichi shook his head when Jyou, Koushiro and Takeru looked at him expectantly. He frowned, crossing his arms, "He won't tell me anything!"

"I asked Mimi and she just winked at me and said it was a secret." Jyou joined in with an unhappy sigh.

"Sora said she couldn't betray her friends." Koushiro added.

"Well, Hikari said we'd know tomorrow," Takeru seemed to be resigned to his girlfriend's secretiveness. He smiled wryly, "So I guess we'll have to wait until tomorrow."

Taichi pouted. "I don't understand why Yamato won't tell me!" He complained to his friends, "Aren't I his boyfriend?_!_"

"That's what we're asking ourselves too, Taichi." Jyou said dryly. He sighed. "Mimi seems determined to keep it a secret from me!"

"So is Sora," Koushiro sighed, black eyes contemplative, "Well, I think they've all been influenced by Mimi-san."

Takeru nodded in agreement as Taichi groaned, "Even Yamato?"

"Even Yamato." Koushiro, Takeru and Jyou said in unison, looks of sympathy for Taichi on their faces.

Taichi blanched. He moaned, turning away from his sympatheitc kindred spirits, muttering under his breath.

"This better be worth it…"

* * *

><p>"Yamato!"<p>

"Taichi!" Yamato shouted. He winced when Mimi and Hikari pulled him away. "Sorry, I'll see you later alright?"

"But what about our date?_!_" Taichi demanded as he stepped forward after Yamato.

"I'll call you later!" Yamato yelled over his shoulder as he was forcefully dragged away from Taichi, who was standing outside the school gates. He bit his lip. "I can't exactly get out now!"

"Wait, Yamato-" Taichi stopped in his tracks when Mimi, Hikari and Sora looked back at him as they held Yamato hostage.

Girls were scary on Valentines' Day – Taichi decided then, and suddenly felt glad he had a boyfriend and not a girlfriend, even if his boyfriend was currently being dragged away by the girlfriends of his friends.

Yes- he was definitely fortunate to have Yamato as his boyfriend instead of a girlfriend- Taichi thought with a wince as Mimi shot him a warning glare over her shoulder when he tried to follow them and Yamato threw him an apologetic look. Hikari smiled at him as she held Yamato's other arm in a vice like grip and Sora gave him a playful, devilish looking grin.

Taichi sighed. Great, his childhood friend and his sister were in cahoots with Mimi and were taking Yamato away from him! On Valentines' Day no less!

"I know how you feel," he heard Koushiro's voice, "But well, since they've gone to so much trouble we might as well wait and see what they're planning to give us."

"That's true," Jyou agreed with a nod. He had come to stand beside Koushiro. "Do you think they're going shopping together, maybe?"

"Poor Onii-san." Takeru said, sympathy and amusement in his voice. "Let's hope Mimi-san and the girls aren't taking him shopping."

"But it's not fair!" Taichi didn't succeed entirely in refraining from whining, "It's Valentines' Day and I can't even spend it with Yamato?_!_"

"But you guys have a date later." Koushiro pointed out.

"Yeah but I wanted to spend the whole of Valentines' Day with him!" Taichi pouted, mumbling unhappily, "Now we'll only have the evening to ourselves…!"

"And the night." Takeru attempted to help.

"Well, if it reassures you, Taichi, we're all kind of in the same boat here," Jyou said. Everyone turned to look at him and he sweatdropped. "Aren't we? I mean, our girlfriends- and well, boyfriend are doing something together which they refuse to tell us and so we can't spend the whole day with them as we would like."

"Misery loves company." Koushiro commented with a wry smile.

Taichi sighed and placed his hands behind his head, deciding to give in temporarily. It wasn't as if there was anything else he could do, now that the girls had taken Yamato away from him. "Well, wanna do something then?" He suggested mildly as they stood outside the school gates. "We could go to the arcade or something while the girls are busy."

"The arcade sounds good." Takeru agreed, smiling.

"I haven't been to there in quite a while." Koushiro revealed. He blinked when Jyou, Taichi and Takeru looked at him, and said somewhat sheepishly, "Why are you looking at me like that? I have gone to the arcade, you know."

The boys exchanged amused looks and Jyou said, "Haven't we, Koushiro?" He grinned, "It's good to take a breather sometimes."

"Well, this is a surprise!" Taichi said with an accepting grin, feeling refreshed. He winked, pumping a fist into the air. "Right, off to the arcade then! I'm gonna beat you guys flat!"

"You won't beat me in the basketball game!" Takeru challenged with a cheeky grin as they walked off.

"Oh yeah? We'll see about that!" Taichi countered, grinning.

"I must say I'm quite proficient in the shooting games," Koushiro confessed modestly, but he was grinning playfully as well, "I've developed quite a good aim."

"I prefer the racing games!" Jyou said excitedly. "They can be quite thrilling." His smile turned sheepish, "Though Mimi's surprisingly good at them as well. It's really fun to play them with her."

"Sora's practically a sharp shooter!" Koushiro said, what sounded like pride in his voice, "She has a really sharp eye. She's a great partner."

"Hikari's not a bad shooter herself- in Basketball I mean," Takeru winked, "She has potential, and she can dance too."

"Really? What a coincidence, Yamato's mastered the DDR machine!" Taichi said with a wide grin, "He loves dancing, and I can never beat him! In fact, I was planning to take him to the arcade on our date today!"

"How romantic." Takeru teased and Taichi laughed good naturedly. He grinned abashedly. "Though I can't say I haven't been thinking the same for Hikari."

"I was thinking Sora would probably want to have fun on Valentines' Day as well…" Koushiro said contemplatively.

"I wanted to see Mimi having fun." Jyou confessed shortly. He sighed. "Though, I suppose that plan's gone now…"

"Yeah." Koushiro agreed disappointedly.

The four boys looked at each other, and in a rare moment of unity in thought, released collective, heavy sighs.

"Girls…"

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><p>Please review :)<p> 


	2. Jun The Baking Instructor

_To the anoymous reviewer: _Hey. It seems you don't like my stories. So why are you reading them? Yeah I say, 'Please review' but if you don't like a fic even the silghtest bit you shouldn't be reading it in the first place. Why waste your time and my time?

Since I don't want to waste too much time on this for I have to study I'm gonna be honest and make this shorter than I intended it to be. Frankly I was hurt 'cause you're this story's first reviewer. I don't know if you know the feeling of receiving reviews 'cause since you didn't even bother to leave a name, you probably haven't written a story before- or at least a story that people have read and reviewed.

The only couple which was 'random' was Koura, and that was because I felt kind of guilty; leaving Sora alone. I've grown fond of her character. And after listening to the drama CD, I became more interested in Koushiro's character. So yeah, it was random. And yeah it's my first time 'randomly' putting two people together. And thus it allows me to explore new possibilities and the interesting challenge of handling their characters. What's bad 'bout that?

So, to say to someone who finds the people the most interesting part of a story, that all the characters are OOC, is not only insulting but unjustified. And how is this sexist? If I intended it to be sexist I would just make the guys go to the arcade and be done with it- I wouldn't have them thinking and wishing they could spend time with their lovers. And if you mean the last part where they said, "Girls..." in exasperation - Taichi didn't include Yamato, he was complaning about Mimi and Hikari and Sora. And yeah, what's wrong with it? There will always be a gap between the genders. Have you never thought in exasperation of the opposite gender before?  
>"Hey, what do you think they're talking to Yamato about?", "Yamato's good at keeping secrets.", "He won't tell me anything! Aren't I his boyfriend?" Curiosity, knowledge of a loved one's traits, disappointment and disbelief- since when could these terms be substituted for sexism?

Would you say Valentines' Day itself is sexist then- since it's supposed to be either the guy or girl who gives, depending on the country? Because it's not officially both genders exchanging gifts? Everyone knows it's a day to celebrate love.  
>Yeah yeah Yamato's a guy. It's yaoi. He's an 'unwilling participant' in Mimi's plan. Since when did I make him act like a girl? Did he squeal? Did he giggle? No. Yeah he blushed. And Jyou blushed in front of Mimi in Season 1, Koushiro sounded like he was blushing during the drama CD where he was writing a love letter, Taichi blushed in embarrassment when the others commented he couldn't find his phone book. Oh and Yamato did stutter <em>and<em> blush in canon as well, if you know Digimon well enough.

Sigh. Good enough compared to what? Your writing? Well, where is it? Can't you put things across in a nicer way?  
>Yeah I am. But it's not as if I'm inserting random Japanese words, like suddenly substituting 'Gomen' for sorry, am I? If you're even interested in why I prefer to use Japanese suffixes it's 'cause I imagine the scene in my mind as I write and of course they're speaking in Japanese which includes the suffixes as in Japanese culture. If you don't like it, don't read it.<p>

Hahaha! Dude, that's funny. Are you a character in Sweetest Poison, in which the title itself is an intriguing oxymoron? How would you know they cringed? You have no justification or evidence at all. And you have no right to insult Psycho. The way you write speaks clearly that you're just a begrudged individual - you have points but little to no evidence. And that you're egoistic- I am FAR from the only one who loved Sweetest Poison. It's impossible for thousands to be wrong, and one begrudged individual to be right.

But thanks, yeah? Ah man, you've made me realize that having 0 reviews is much better than having one, insensitive, poorly substantiated one. By the way a lot of people will be wrong too if I really do have no talent, people who hold professional positions. You're contradicting yourself when you said "you got slightly better". Good luck thinking you're a better judge than all those people. And insult me if you want, I'll just insult you back- if you're civil to me, I'll be civil to you. I'm usually nice but this I can't tolerate. Just at least have the decency to not do it here and ruin people's capability to truly enjoy a story. Thank you. And I believe you meant, "Get more talent." :) Which I already have.

_To Ominious: _Thanks, people like you are the reason why I'm still enabling the anoymous review feature :) Though I'm so tempted to turn it off after that. Maybe I will, for a while. If I do- sorry in advance for that...

Yeah, kind of sad huh? Just wasting their time and other people's time. And haha yeah, Sweetest Poison was awesome, wasn't it? It was what got me into the Taito fandom. :) I've read it quite a few times and I still love it. You should check our Psycho's other stories too :) They're pretty good as well. Love, War and Headaches is fun to read and is on going ;)

I've also been reading for quite a long time, before I created an account, so I know what you mean :) Thanks for reviewing, I know it's really easy to be a ghost reader sometimes, especially when you've been reading for an extended period of time, years or so. So I appreciate it :) Your review also really cheered me up and encouraged me to continue this story despite my busy life, so thank you for that.

_Well, since I just watched a short, humorous clip of Season 2 a certain character will be introduced in this story in this chapter :) I hope I got her character right from the clip. Enjoy reading :) I decided to write a short chapter for once since it just ended there. Oh yeah and Happy Valentines' Day._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon._

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><p>"So Mimi, you haven't told us who's going to teach us how to bake yet." Sora pointed out as they stood outside Mimi's house.<p>

Mimi just smiled cheerfully, "You'll see!" She opened the door and entered her home, heading to the kitchen.

Yamato sighed as he followed Hikari and Sora into Mimi's house. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy spending time with his friends, it was just that he had never done something so...elaborate for Valentines' Day before. Usually he and Taichi would just spend the day together. Sure, he had cooked for Taichi before but he had never baked anything for his boyfriend-in such a secretive plan, no less.

He wondered why Mimi was being so sneaky- maybe she wanted to impress Jyou? Though, Yamato knew from his conversations with Jyou that he was impressed by her all the time. But then, who wouldn't be impressed with Mimi- with her confidence and her lack of fear to say what she wanted to say and pursued exactly what she wanted? Yamato smiled. Jyou definitely was.

"What's inside that bag?" Hikari asked curiously as she looked at the big plastic bag Yamato had been lugging along.

Yamato shifted his gaze, "Chocolate from girls." He said. "I couldn't just throw them away."

"Heh, you sure are popular as always, huh?" Sora teased as she looked at him in amusement, "What are you going to do with them? Eat them all?"

"Nah, usually Taichi and I will share them with each other," Yamato said with a grin, "He gets a lot of chocolate too."

"And he leaves the rest for me," Hikari commented, smiling. "They're usually delicious."

"Kind of ironic how you'll be making chocolate now, huh?" Sora told Yamato, who turned his gaze to her.

"Tell me about it." He said wryly and Sora chuckled.

"Hey guys!" Mimi's voice had a tinge of annoyance as she yelled from the kitchen, "What are you still doing out there?_!_"

"Well, that's our signal." Sora said and she, Yamato and Hikari walked to the kitchen.

The first thing Yamato noticed when he entered the kitchen was their very familiar baking instructor. His face paled rapidly and his hand released its grip on the bag of chocolates at the sight of reddish-brown spiky hair on a feminine body.

"N-No way…"

Jun, their baking instructor whom Mimi had appointed, turned around, smiling happily as she caught sight of the shocked Yamato. "Yamato!"

_"You've gotta be kidding me..." _Yamato managed a sheepish smile, "J-Jun…" his feeling of dread was definitely intensified now and he resisted the urge to yelp as Jun grinned at him. The blond quickly took to Mimi's side, grabbing her arm and hissing, "Hey Mimi! What is _she_ doing here?_!_"

Mimi merely blinked at him, tilting her head to the side, her pink curls brushing against her face. "Why, she's our baking instructor of course!" She said in a matter of fact tone.

"But why her?_!_" Yamato demanded wildly. He let go of Mimi's arm, sweeping his hand out to the side towards the excited fangirl, his blue eyes panicked as he remembered the last time he had been in Jun's grip. He had learned to never, ever underestimate her from that incident. "You know she's crazy about me!"

"Actually, she's now crazy about you and Taichi," Yamato stared at Mimi in disbelief and she giggled, "No, not like that!"

"What?"

"I mean, she's crazy about you and Taichi being together," Mimi winked at him, "Isn't that great?" She asked excitedly.

Yamato, on the other hand, was trying in vain to resist the urge to freak out and facepalm, "What's so great about that?_!_"

"Well, now you won't have to worry about her!" Mimi tapped a finger to her chin, smiling at the twitching Yamato. "She won't kidnap you for a date or anything. We're here anyway."

"That's right, Yamato!" Yamato flinched as Jun's voice sounded and he turned reluctantly to face her. Since when had he given her permission to call him by his first name like that? Oh wait, he hadn't. Jun had never needed his permission.

Jun winked at him, and Yamato blearily wondered if she had been influenced by Mimi, or if Mimi had been influenced by Jun, "Don't worry, I know you're together with Taichi now!" She clasped her hands together, eyes shining in a dreadfully familiar way, "You two are so cute together!" She gushed, "Oh and you're making him chocolate for Valentines' Day, right? That's so sweet!"

Yamato stared. He found himself wishing that someone should have warned him- of these inopportune moments and situations which were _not _supposed to happen to him but were happening anyway. He honestly didn't know which was worse- that Jun was going to fangirl about him and Taichi, or her advances towards him in the past.

The blond shot a desperate look towards Sora and Hikari, who were smiling at him and looking like they were trying very hard not to grin. He returned his gaze to Mimi, who of course, wasn't making any effort to hide her amusement at all, judging by the wide grin on her face.

"So, Yamato…"

Jun was smiling at him- smiling a smile that seemed positively evil to Yamato. The blond resisted the urge to back away as she stared straight at him. He couldn't help but feel trapped all of a sudden as he moved his gaze around- Sora and Hikari were blocking the door, Mimi was by the counter, and Jun- well, she was in front of him and still staring at him with that evil glint in her eyes which made him question inwardly why was he even here in the first place. He watched with wary eyes as she turned slightly, gesturing towards the materials and ingredients with a devilish grin.

"Shall we begin?"


	3. Sincerity, Love, Light, and Friendship

_Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon._

* * *

><p>"…This is impossible."<p>

Jun was a surprisingly good teacher, and Yamato told himself it was not her fault as he stared at the chocolate which didn't look like a heart at all. In fact, it looked like something deformed, and was that a spike sticking out?

"How do girls do this stuff?" The blond muttered to himself as he glanced between Mimi's perfectly formed heart shaped chocolates and his sixth miserable attempt. He sighed and reached out to pick up the deformed looking chocolate, taking a bite and almost spitting it out afterwards. "Ugh! It's too sweet!"

"So how's your progress, Yamato?" Jun peeked over his shoulder. She raised an eyebrow at the half bitten chocolate Yamato had made. "Eh? What's that?"

Yamato flushed a little, "It's my failed creation," he grumbled as he swallowed the chocolate, wincing slightly, unable to resist the urge to groan and drag a hand down his face, "This has to be the worst yet..."

"Let me see." Jun said and Yamato blinked as she reached out to take the chocolate.

"Hey don't, it's really-" Jun popped the whole chocolate in her mouth, and Yamato stared. "sweet."

To his surprise, Jun didn't choke and spit the delicacy out. She just blinked and said, "Not too bad."

"…Seriously?" Yamato was too surprised to say anything else.

"Yeah, it's kind of sweet though, so maybe you could put less sugar," Jun grinned at him as she seemed to chew on the chocolate, "Try again, Yamato!"

"Right." Yamato said, smiling. He couldn't help but feel kind of touched by the faith Jun had in him. "Thanks Jun."

"No problem." Jun replied easily, and she was off to check on Mimi, Sora and Hikari.

Yamato watched Jun examine the others' efforts, smiling. Jun wasn't too bad after all, now that she wasn't crazy over him as she used to be. He remembered the rare times he had talked to her as a person, a friend, when they had held a conversation without her thinking of him as her idol. He had truly enjoyed those times with her.

Feeling more encouraged, Yamato turned his gaze back to the tray. According to Jun, his attempt hadn't been that bad- he had just failed in creating the shape. Perhaps he could try to form another shape. Even if it was Valentines' Day- giving a heart shaped chocolate to Taichi seemed a little too cheesy.

Resisting the urge to run his hand through his perfectly groomed hair in exasperation, Yamato decided to try a different approach. He wasn't too familiar with hearts- the shape seemed simple, but for some reason that frustrated him, he just couldn't get it right like Mimi could. Though it wasn't really surprising- Mimi was just the type of person who was good at almost everything, even at something she was new at.

Raising a hand to his chin, Yamato frowned in contemplation. If he wasn't going to make a heart, what could he make? He couldn't exactly make a square or circle- those shapes had no significance at all. A star seemed fine, but it just didn't suit what he had in mind. He definitely didn't want to make anything too complicated, just something that Taichi would like-

The thought hit him so suddenly that he blinked. Yamato glanced down, feeling his lips curve into a satisfied smile as he realized what he wanted to make.

"Yeah, it's perfect." The rockstar murmured to himself, a smile on his lips. He picked up the tray and proceeded to where the ingredients were. He carefully picked up a piece of chocolate from the white cup, and with a microwave safe bowl in his other hand, proceeded to the microwave to begin his experiment.

He now knew what he wanted to give Taichi.

* * *

><p>"Wow! Guys, come and look at this!"<p>

"Wow." Sora echoed Mimi when she and Jun and Hikari reached Yamato's side, "Is that…"

"My crest of Friendship," Yamato answered with a proud grin as he drew the back of his hand across his sweaty forehead with a satisfied sigh. "I finally managed to get it right."

"You're going to give my brother that?" Hikari asked in awe. "That's so…"

"Cool!" Sora grinned widely, "That's a really creative idea, Yamato!"

"Sweet!" Jun added loudly as she stared at the unique symbol then turned to give Yamato a friendly grin, "Now, what was that you said about being useless in baking?"

"Well, it turned out to be nothing a few experiments couldn't fix," Yamato replied good naturedly, smiling at Jun. He gave her a quick wink. "Of course, it's also because I had such a good teacher."

"Awww!" Jun's face was pink as she grinned, "Would Taichi be jealous if I kissed you for that?"

"Yeah, he'll probably hunt you down," Yamato said casually, but he was grinning and didn't back away from her as he had in the past, "Especially since today's Valentines' Day."

"Ah that sucks," Jun pouted and Yamato's grin widened. She soon returned it, "Taichi's so lucky! If you two weren't so cute together I would be the one hunting him down!"

Yamato just shrugged, "I'm the lucky one," he said simply, blue eyes softening. "To have Taichi."

"Both of you are lucky," Hikari said with a smile, "You really suit my brother, Yamato."

Yamato returned her smile appreciatively, then blinked as Jun thrust something in front of his face, "What?"

"For you." Jun said with a cheeky grin, her eyes shining, "Happy Valentines' Day, Yamato!"

Jun had given him chocolate before on Valentines' Day of course, but it was now that Yamato found himself genuinely smiling as he received the heart shaped chocolate from her. He knew she was offering him the chocolate in friendship now, and not because she had a fan's crush on him. The musician smiled and leaned down to place a friendly kiss on Jun's cheek, "Thank you, Jun."

He hadn't gone overboard, but Yamato guessed Jun was still his fan as she blushed when he withdrew. He smiled at her and bit into the chocolate she had given him, relishing in the delicious taste. "Mmmm. It's really good."

"Of course." Jun said in pride, grinning widely, "It's my chocolate after all."

"That's true." Yamato replied and took another bite.

"Hikari!" Mimi's squeal drew his attention, "That looks delicious!"

"It's for Takeru." Hikari said, smiling shyly as she turned her gaze to the small heart-shaped chocolate cake she had made for her boyfriend. "I've baked before, so…"

"It looks good enough to eat," Sora agreed, smiling at Hikari, "I'm sure Takeru will love it."

"Yeah, it's kind of clichéd though!" Hikari rubbed the back of her neck in a sheepish manner and Yamato blinked. "Compared to Yamato's idea."

"Yeah, I kind of want to do it too!" Mimi admitted, smiling excitedly, "I mean, my crest is Sincerity so it'd be quite meaningful if I give it to Jyou, right?_!_"

"Of course," Hikari said as she stared at her chocolate cake, lips curling into a sheepish grin, "Now you've got me thinking about that idea too…"

"I don't mind." Yamato said generously. He turned to Sora, smiling wryly, "Though Sora won't have to since her crest is Love."

Sora blushed, but smiled. "Yeah, but I made a cookie," she said with a little shrug, "I gave up trying to make chocolate."

"Don't be like that, Sora!" Mimi linked her arm with her friend's, giving her an encouraging smile. "We'll help you!"

"Yeah, even Yamato succeeded in the end!" Hikari said teasingly.

Yamato shot a glower at her, "Hey, what do you mean by that?_!_"

Everyone laughed, and Sora grinned as Yamato pouted. "True." She said. "I guess I'll be able to do it too, if I try hard enough."

"Of course! I'm sure you'll take less time than Yamato!" Jun said evilly.

Sora nodded. "True, true."

Yamato stared then sighed. "You guys are all ganging up on me," he grumbled lowly, "This is so unfair."

"We're just teasing you," Sora told him in amusement. "You aren't _that _bad."

Yamato huffed and his friends giggled. He sighed, then looked up with a smile, shaking his head and spreading his hands. "Fine, fine."

"Well!" Mimi clapped her hands and everyone moved their gaze to her. She grinned at her companions, clenching her fist, almond eyes bright with determination.

"Here's our new objective: making our Crests!"

* * *

><p>"Ah damn, that looks really awesome!"<p>

"You got that right!" Sora agreed readily as she stared in pride at their carefully crafted creations on the tray laid out neatly next to each other. She turned, a grin splitting across her face, "Quick, who has a camera!_?_"

"I do!" Mimi raised her hand excitedly. "This is my house after all!"

"Well, go get it then!"

"Roger!" And with that, the pink haired girl dashed out of the kitchen. She returned in less than a minute, clutching her silver camera in her hand as she walked to rejoin her friends. She held out the camera to Yamato, who blinked. "Here! You were the one who gave us the idea after all."

"Right…" Yamato said as he took the camera from Mimi. He switched it on and waited for it to load, then raised it to his eye level, making sure to hold it steadily as he pushed down on the silver button with his index finger and captured what would be a memorable picture of the chocolate crests of Sincerity, Love, Light, and Friendship.

"Let me see!" Mimi urged impatiently and Yamato passed her camera back to her. He, Sora, Hikari and Jun crowded around Mimi, who was smiling widely at the picture Yamato had taken. "It's so pretty!"

"You definitely have to get that picture printed and give it to us." Hikari commented happily.

"That's right!" Sora nodded, smiling in satisfaction at their work.

"Yup! Great job girls!" Jun declared proudly, clapping her hands on Sora's and Mimi's shoulders as she leaned over between them. "And Yamato of course."

As Jun gave Yamato a wink and a grin, Mimi shifted her gaze away from the picture to him, "Yeah! See, I told you guys, it was a great idea to get Yamato to come along with us!"

"And you were right, as always, Mimi." Sora said, smirking.

"Even if we were just under the assumption that since Yamato's so good at cooking, he should be good at baking too." Hikari added cheerfully.

Yamato twitched a little, smiling, "I guess you guys weren't listening to me at all when I said I'm useless at baking."

"Oh but we were!" Mimi said innocently. "We just chose to believe in you!"

"Aren't we sweet?" Sora was smirking wryly.

Yamato sighed, then smirked, crossing his arms, "Right. Just count yourselves lucky I decided to give in because of our friendship," he said teasingly, moving his gaze to the chocolate symbol of Friendship he had made. "I am the keeper of Friendship after all."

"Oh we knew that." Mimi replied easily. She smiled as she followed his gaze. "Hey, should we make crests for the others as well?" She asked, a finger to her chin, "Honesty, Knowledge, Hope and Courage."

"Maybe?" Sora asked as she smiled, "It'd be interesting to do."

Yamato made an affirmative sound as he checked his phone. His blue eyes widened slightly and he said, "Damn, it's so late already?" The blond raised his gaze to the girls, "Sorry guys, but I have to leave soon. I promised Taichi a date at," he looked at the time on his phone again, "half an hour from now."

"What time is it now?" Mimi asked curiously.

"6PM." Yamato said.

"So late?" Mimi's eyes widened, "I didn't notice we've been here for so long!"

"Me neither." Sora said, biting her lip slightly. "I have to meet Koushiro soon too."

"And I have to meet Jyou!" Mimi exclaimed suddenly. "In fact, he should be coming over right now!"

The doorbell rang then, and Mimi panicked, "Ah, he's here!" She said nervously, glancing to the side, "And I haven't even packed up the chocolate for him yet!"

"Relax, we'll help you!" Sora reassured her as she, Hikari and Jun moved to help Mimi. She flicked her gaze to Yamato, "Hey Yamato, can you go and delay Jyou?_!_"

"R-Right." Yamato nodded and sprinted out of the kitchen as the sound of the doorbell resounded throughout the house.

* * *

><p><em>Please review<em>


	4. Friendship and Love

_Just a little note: Jyou's crest is Honesty, not Responsibility. Sorry for the mistake, but I've fixed it :)_

* * *

><p>Yamato opened Mimi's door, revealing Jyou, who stared at him in surprise. "Yamato!"<p>

Yamato smiled at him, "Hey Jyou." He greeted casually, moving aside as Jyou stepped into Mimi's house after dutifully removing his shoes.

"What are you doing here?" Jyou asked curiously, turning to face Yamato.

"Well…" Yamato smiled nervously, trying to think of a suitable answer which would not reveal to Jyou Mimi's surprise for him. "Mimi wanted me and the others to come over to help her with…something."

"Help her with something?" Jyou blinked, his gaze contemplative. "Did she want your help in cooking?"

Yamato coughed discreetly, "Something like that." Damn, he really sucked at lying sometimes.

"Oh, well, what did she make?" Jyou asked, smiling. He shifted his gaze, "Is she still in the kitchen?"

"Yea-hey wait, you can't go there!" Yamato quickly moved to block Jyou's vision, reaching out to grab Jyou's wrist, who turned and stared at him in surprise. He gave the other boy an apologetic, nervous smile, "Uh…Mimi's still cooking and she wouldn't like to be disturbed."

"Ah." Jyou said.

Yamato smiled sheepishly, "Yeah, so…" he released Jyou's wrist, deciding to strike up another topic, "Where did you come from? You look a little tired."

"Oh I went jogging while waiting for Mimi," Jyou smiled at him as he brushed the sweat off his neck, running a hand through his long hair briefly. "I didn't really have anything to do after we left the arcade. I didn't feel like studying." He shrugged.

Jyou- didn't feel like studying? Yamato smiled in amusement, "Kidou Jyou going to the arcade instead of studying?" He said, raising an elegant eyebrow. "Wow."

"Eh I like to have fun too sometimes," Jyou said, unoffended. He grinned at Yamato. "The arcade can be fun. But I guess you should know that."

"Taichi told you guys." Yamato said knowingly.

"Yeah, Taichi, Koushiro, Takeru and I went to the arcade together," Jyou gave a little shrug, grinning, "We were talking about which game we liked best and it somehow turned into a conversation about you guys." He looked at Yamato in amusement, "Now everyone knows how good you are at dancing."

Yamato flushed, shaking his head, a fond smile on his lips. "That Taichi…" he looked at Jyou, "So, you guys had fun huh?" He asked, smiling, "Wish I had been there."

"Oh believe me, we know that," Jyou teased, and Yamato could tell he was talking about Taichi. The blue haired boy laughed and walked to the couch, "Yeah, we had a lot of fun. It was great."

Yamato followed Jyou as he sat down on Mimi's couch, leaning back. "Sorry, I'm a little worn out."

"It's fine," Yamato said. He glanced at the kitchen, then turned his attention back to Jyou with a smile as he vaguely wondered what was taking Mimi, Hikari, Sora and Jun so long. "So, which game do you like best?"

"The racing games," Jyou answered, to his surprise, exhaling with a smile, "I kind of like the shooting games too but that's Koushiro's forte."

"Koushiro goes to the arcade?" Yamato was even more surprised.

"Yeah, hey we're not just a geek and a nerd you know!" Jyou said lightly, "Koushiro has other concerns besides his laptop."

"Yeah, shooting games at the arcade and Sora." Yamato grinned. He moved to plop down onto the couch beside Jyou, laying back casually as he spread his arms.

"Mhmm." Jyou made a noise of confirmation. He shifted his gaze to Yamato, "So, everyone's here with Mimi?"

"Hmmm?" Yamato yawned a little. He darted a quick glance to the kitchen. "Yeah."

"You've changed," Jyou said suddenly and Yamato blinked at him. He smiled. "In the past, you wouldn't have agreed to help Mimi with cooking. No offence."

"I know." Yamato said with an easy smile. He gave a shrug, "Hey, you've changed too. We've all changed since the Digital world."

"Yeah," Jyou agreed with a nod. He seemed to hesitate, before asking, "Do you miss it?"

"Eh?"

"The past," Jyou clarified for Yamato, who was staring at him curiously. He cleared his throat slightly, "Our childhood. Our Digimon."

"I can't say I don't." Yamato confessed as he stared at the ceiling. He shook his head, then turned his blue eyes back to Jyou with a calm smile. "But at least they haven't completely disappeared from our lives."

"True." Jyou seemed relieved. He gave a small grin, looking sheepish, "Sorry for being all nostalgic for a moment there," he said apologetically, "It's just, sometimes life's moving so fast you just can't help but want to go back to the past."

"Yeah." Yamato replied simply.

The two boys descended into a comfortable silence, in which Yamato spent wondering what was taking Mimi so long. Had she accidentally dropped the chocolates and had to make new ones? Or was she nervous about giving them to Jyou?

"But, we're still friends," Yamato said suddenly, and Jyou looked at him. He smiled. "We were friends then, and we're still friends now, even if we've discovered other things in our lives."

"Like love," Jyou said, smiling. "To be honest, I never thought I would fall in love," he confessed, "Back then, studying was all I knew. To fulfill my father's expectations."

"But then, when I met Mimi…" Jyou bit his lip, "She was just, so different, you know? She may have been a bit…whiny at times, but I guess, she was scared she wouldn't be able to return to our world, just like all of us were, deep inside."

Yamato thought about it for a moment, then nodded. "That's true." He agreed.

Jyou smiled at him, "Mimi was brave in her own way, and she had such a sincere heart," his lips held a fond smile, "And well, I wanted to take care of her, to be there for her. That's why I stayed with her when she couldn't take fighting anymore." Yamato looked at him and he elaborated, "When you left the group. Mimi and I stayed behind too."

"I see." Yamato said quietly.

"Hey it's alright," Jyou gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder, then withdrew his hand with a reassuring smile, "It's all in the past, right?"

Yamato sighed. "Yeah." He agreed, smiling back at Jyou, "I guess we have to look to the future."

"And," he added, standing up as he saw Mimi emerging from the kitchen. He smiled as Hikari and Jun came out from behind her, "I think you'll like the near future."

"Eh?" Jyou said, confused. He followed Yamato's gaze, eyes widening, "Mimi!"

Mimi flushed, "Jyou."

"Uh, did you hear that?" She nodded and Jyou winced in embarrassment. He got up from the couch, walking to stand in front of her. "Sorry, I didn't mean to- I mean, sorry if I made you embarrassed…" he flushed slightly.

Mimi shook her head, and when she looked up, there was a wide smile on her lips. "No, thank you Jyou." She said with the sincerity Jyou loved about her, "I never told you this and it's been so long since then- but thank you for staying with me."

"Mimi…"

Mimi smiled and advanced forward, and Jyou then noticed she was holding something behind her back, "I have something to give you." She said. "For Valentines' Day."

"Eh? You don't have to, Mimi-" Jyou said, but Mimi cut him off gently.

"I want to, Jyou." Mimi said simply with a smile, and Jyou blinked as she inhaled, then revealed what she had been hiding behind her back, "H-Here. Happy Valentines' Day."

"It's my first time making chocolates, so…" Mimi said awkwardly as Jyou received the plastic bag tied neatly with a silver ribbon in awe, "…I hope you'll like them."

"…B-But I thought you were cooking something with Yamato's help." Jyou said, still in awe.

Mimi blinked and Yamato grinned. "Sorry Jyou, I lied." He said simply.

Jyou stared at him, then turned his gaze back to Mimi. He walked towards her and pulled her into a gentle hug, smiling, "Thank you, Mimi. This is a really nice surprise."

"You're welcome." Mimi replied, feeling happy tears in her eyes. She smiled and rested her head against Jyou's chest, closing her eyes in contentment. "I love you, Jyou."

Jyou's smile widened as he tightened his grip on the girl he loved. "I love you too, Mimi." He whispered by her ear.

"How sweet." Yamato commented in amusement, smirking. His smirk grew as Jyou and Mimi blushed and he quickly released her, though not without reluctance.

"Oh shut up," Mimi countered, flushing, "Don't you have a date with Taichi?"

Yamato blinked, then his blue eyes widened. "Ah damn!" He said, "I forgot!"

"I wonder what Taichi would say if he heard that." Mimi called out teasingly as Yamato turned.

"Well, I'll tell him it's 'cause you wanted me to distract Jyou," Yamato retorted and grinned as Mimi glared at him. He gave her a quick, sly wink, then proceeded to stride to the door.

"Yamato!" He heard Jun's voice and turned back curiously. She smirked at him, "You aren't leaving without _your_ Valentines' Day gift for Taichi, are you?"

Yamato blanched, then slapped a hand to his forehead in exasperation. Mimi giggled and he gave her a glower as he walked past her to the kitchen.

* * *

><p>Sora was in the kitchen, tying a light blue ribbon neatly around a small plastic bag. Feeling his presence, she turned and smiled at him. "I saw the show. Jyou and Mimi really are sweet."<p>

"Yeah," Yamato said as he walked to her side. He smiled fondly. "They really deserve each other."

"But, we're still friends," Sora said casually, and Yamato stared at her in surprise. She smiled at him. "That's what you said, isn't it? _'We were friends then, and we're still friends now, even if we've discovered other things in our lives.'_"

"Sora…" Yamato spoke. He smiled and nodded, "Yeah, that's what I said."

"Thank you, Yamato." Sora smiled genuinely at him, "I'll remember that." She averted her gaze, "I guess that's enough for me."

He'd thought she had gotten over it, but it seemed that she hadn't. Yamato's eyes softened. That was Sora- he guessed, hiding her feelings and smiling so her beloved friends wouldn't worry.

Yamato bit his lip. Perhaps Taichi wouldn't mind. They had love after all. "Sora, do you-"

"Don't even think about it Yamato," to his surprise, Sora was glaring at him. Seeing his blue eyes widen, she sighed, her gaze softening. "You made it for Taichi, didn't you?"

"We have love." Yamato voiced his thought.

"But it was friendship which brought you two together." Sora said. She looked him in the eye, "You and Taichi were friends first."

Yamato looked at her, then nodded. Sora smiled at him, "I don't need proof of your friendship, Yamato," she told him gently. "I already know I have it."

"Sora-"

"You can't have love without friendship, Yamato," Sora continued, giving him a wry smile. She seemed to want to say something more, but decided not to, instead glancing away at the chocolate Yamato had made. Sora inhaled, then spoke. "So what are you waiting for?"

"_But having friendship doesn't necessarily mean having love," _Yamato finished the words Sora had probably wanted to say in his mind, as he looked at her eyes. _"I'm sorry, Sora."_

"Taichi has everything, doesn't he?" Sora said suddenly, a certain spark in her eyes, which he met with surprise, "He has a happy family, supporting friends, a little sister to care for and love, soccer, and you." She said with a melancholic smile. "I'm sometimes envious of him."

"Taichi also has a caring childhood friend." Yamato said softly and Sora looked at him. He smiled at her and with little hesitance, reached out to draw Sora into a hug.

"I'm sorry," Yamato murmured apologetically, guilt seeping into his voice as he felt Sora tense slightly. "You wanted love, but I could only give you friendship."

"It's alright," Sora replied, and Yamato didn't see her sad smile. She reached up her arms to return his hug. "I've accepted it. It's just, I…"

Yamato glanced at Sora, then released her. Sora looked up at him, at his blue eyes full of emotion which she and Taichi had fallen in love with. Her lips curved into a wry smile as she took in the sight of his immaculately groomed blond hair which she longed to feel with her fingers; wondering if it was as soft as it looked, at his pink lips which she felt tempted to lean towards, but knew she wasn't the one who had the right.

Yamato had always been pretty for a boy- Sora thought as she stared at the blond musician. She hadn't really noticed in the past, but she supposed Taichi had. Looking back, she had often caught him staring at Yamato when he thought no one was looking, when she was.

Of course, they had been young then and their looks hadn't really changed their opinions of each other. They had been friends first before any of them got together. But now, they were back in the real world and in middle school, and Yamato's change in attitude and pretty boy look had attracted many girls to him, including her, she thought wryly. She'd never thought she would come to be romantically attracted to Ishida Yamato, the loner with the cold blue eyes.

"Sora…?"

Yamato had definitely changed, but so had she. Like Yamato himself had said, they all had. Had Yamato not loved Taichi when she confessed to him, would she have had a chance? If she had liked Yamato in the past, in the Digiworld, would he have grown fond of her too? He was fond of her now, but not in the way she had wanted him to be.

If her childhood friend had not fallen in love with his best friend, if Taichi had hidden his feelings for Yamato, how different could things have been?

"It's kind of...ironic," the word left Sora's lips involuntarily. Yamato blinked and she smiled, reaching up to brush her fringe to the side, "You're the ladies' man, but you don't want a lady. You want a man."

"I know," Yamato said. He sighed, and looked to the side, speaking with slight hesitance, "Do you think it's wrong?"

"You love him," Sora said, looking at him. "How can love be wrong?"

He looked at her, and she turned to lift up the plastic bag with the light blue ribbon. Sora turned back to Yamato, holding out the plastic bag with the chocolate crest of Friendship towards the blond with a smile. "Here. You want to give this to Taichi, don't you?"

Yamato nodded. Sora reached out and grabbed his wrist, placing the small plastic bag in the palm of his open hand. "Be happy with Taichi." She said, smiling up at him and blinking back the tears in her eyes, "You owe me that at least."

"Sora…" her words had touched his heart, and Yamato bit his lip as he saw the shine in his friend's eyes. "Please don't cry."

"Cry? I'm not the one shedding a tear." Sora teased, but her voice was slightly choked.

"Yeah," Yamato said, brushing away a stray tear from his blue eye with a finger. He smiled genuinely at Sora, blue eyes shimmering. "I'm not crying either. I'm just happy to have such a great friend."

"As am I." Sora said with a smile, and turned away.

Yamato looked down at the plastic bag with a light blue ribbon in his hand which Sora had wrapped for him. The blond smiled and raised his gaze. "Hey, Sora?"

"Yeah?"

"Enjoy your Valentines' Day," Yamato told her with a sincere smile, "Koushiro's a good person."

The musician then turned and moved to walk away, as Sora said, "Yeah, you too," her voice was soft and full of emotion, "Happy Valentines' Day, Yamato."

Yamato stopped. Smiling, he closed his eyes.

"Yeah."


	5. Home

The sound of his band's song made Yamato open his eyes, and he reached a casual hand into his pocket, holding the phone to his ear as he pressed the button to answer the call, moving to pick up his school bag from the counter. "Hello?"

"**Hey Yamato!"** Taichi's cheerful voice almost made him start, **"I'm on the way to your house, I'll be reaching in about…"** there was a pause, **"15 minutes."**

"Uh…" Yamato said.

"**Yamato?"**

Yamato smiled. "Actually Taichi…" he began in a sheepish voice, "I'm not there yet."

"**Eh?"** Taichi sounded confused. "**But you agreed to meet me there at 6.30PM! I'm not too early, am I?"**

"No! Well I'm at Mimi's house, she wanted me to help her with cooking," Yamato spoke rapidly. A little white lie wouldn't hurt. Jyou had fallen for it after all. "Sorry, I'll be there soon, okay?"

"**Oh is that so. Well, it's alright Yama I can just take a detour and pick you up from there-"**

"Ah no, that's alright, Taichi!" Yamato spoke in slight panic, as he looked at his Valentines' Day gift for Taichi as he walked out of the kitchen, "I mean, I'm still in school uniform! I have to go home and change."

"**Yamato…"** he heard slight worry in Taichi's voice. **"Are you alright? It's alright if you're late, really. I don't mind."**

Yamato blinked, as Sora's voice called, "Yamato! You forgot your bag of chocolates!"

"Ah, thanks, Sora," Yamato said as Sora came out of the kitchen, as he took the bag of chocolates which he had received from girls from her, giving her a smile.

"**Sora's there too?" **Taichi's voice was surprised, **"Are you teaching her how to cook as well?"**

Before Yamato could reply, someone snatched his phone away from him. He blinked and turned, blue eyes widening as he saw Mimi holding his phone to her ear, a sly smile on her face.

"Taichi," the pink haired girl practically sang in glee, relishing in the look of shock on Yamato's face, "Actually, Yamato's late 'cause it's Valentines' Day and he was making-"

"MIMI!" Yamato exclaimed in such a loud voice that he cut off whatever Mimi had wanted to say. Mimi looked at him, her smile widening.

"Anyway, I think you'll like the _near_ _future_." She said with a meaningful glance at the disbelieving Yamato, and quickly threw the phone before he was able to snatch it back from her, "Catch, Sora!"

Sora blinked and caught the phone, and Yamato felt his eyebrow twitch as she held his phone to her ear, speaking casually. "Hey, Taichi."

"**Sora?" **Taichi asked in surprise.

"You want to know what's Yamato planning?" Sora said with an amused, almost evil smile as Yamato stalked towards her. "Well, he's…"

Yamato dropped the bag of chocolates, his school bag slipping off his shoulder. "Sora…!" This was _not _happening!

Oh this was too fun. Sora grinned as Yamato stared her almost pleadingly, "Yamato's planning to give you something special." She said and Yamato looked at her in horror. Sora was barely able to dodge him as he lunged at her to get back his phone. Who knew Yamato could move so fast? She held it out of his reach as she sidestepped Yamato with the skill and grace she had learned from playing soccer, yelling as she threw Yamato's phone, "Jyou, catch!"

"**Special?"** Taichi said once he had gotten over his surprise. What was Sora talking about?

Jyou gasped in surprise and almost failed to catch Yamato's phone. He fumbled with it in his hands, before raising it to his ear. "T-Taichi!"

Yamato glared at Sora incredulously, and then moved towards Jyou. Jyou squeaked as he saw that the blond was twitching, an annoyance in his eyes which reminded him of the loner Yamato had once been. "Jyou…"

"**Jyou?" **Taichi stopped in his tracks on the pavement, his gaze holding a look of bemusement.** "Why are you there? What's happening? Is everyone there?" **

"Eh, I don't know anything!" Jyou exclaimed into the phone. "Yeah, everyone's here, though I have no idea what they're up to. Well, Mimi just gave me chocolate so maybe-" he was cut off by his own yelp as Yamato's glare increased in intensity. "A-Anyway! I gotta go now see you bye!"

Taichi blinked. **"Jyou-" **he began.

"Jyou!" Mimi said to him, a pout on her lips, "Throw the phone to someone else!"

"E-EH?" Jyou looked at her disbelievingly. Yamato was nearing him swiftly and he panicked. Without thinking, he threw the phone to the nearest person. "Sorry Yamato!"

Jun grinned as she leapt up to catch Yamato's phone in her hand, and Yamato felt a growing sense of horror as he realized Jun had one of his items in her hands.

"Taichi!" Yamato winced as Jun exclaimed happily into the phone, grinning a grin which sent dread pooling in his stomach, "You and Yamato are _so CUTE TOGETHER!"_

Taichi flinched on the other end, almost starting, his brown eyes widening in surprise. **"Jun?_!_" **He exclaimed, leaning forward. **"What are you doing there_!_?"**

"_JUN!"_

"Why am I here? Well, I was being a faithful fan and teaching him how to make-" Jun jumped away with a skill Yamato wished he had in the past as he leapt towards her angrily. Yamato felt his eyebrow twitch as he realized the irony of the situation.

"Sorry Taichi, Yamato's angry!" Jun said apologetically, but she was grinning too widely to be sincere, "Yup! Hey if you and Yamato ever get married invite me to the wedding okay? I want to be his bridesmaid!"

Taichi gaped and Yamato's jaw dropped. _"W-What?_!_"_ They exclaimed together.

Jun just grinned and threw the phone, winking at the horrified Yamato. It sailed through the air towards Hikari, who blinked and reached up to catch it in her hand.

Hikari was unable to resist. She smiled as she looked at Yamato, speaking into the phone, "Big brother, didn't you promise me I could be the bridesmaid if you ever got married to Yamato?" She said teasingly as she smiled innocently at Yamato who was too surprised to move towards her, "How could you give the position to someone other than your little sister?"

"**H-Hikari…" **Taichi stuttered.

"Oh, and Takeru wants to be the best man," Hikari said cheerfully as Yamato's eyes widened. "Yup, I told him!"

"**Since when did I say Yamato and I were getting married?_!_" **Taichi exclaimed on the other end, cheeks flushed, brown eyes disbelieving.

"Oh but didn't you tell me you were going to marry Yamato the other day?"

"**I**_** didn't**_**!"**

"Really? Does that mean you don't want to marry Yamato then?" Hikari asked as Yamato stared.

Taichi blushed, staring incredulously. **"T-That's!"**

"Yamato's planning something?" Hikari blinked, deciding to toy with her brother's and Yamato's minds further. "Well…"

"…**He is?"** Taichi held a hand to his forehead, feeling seriously confused. **"For what? Valentines' Day?" **Weren't they just talking about his and Yamato's assumed marriage in the future?

Yamato sighed. "Hikari…" he said to her pleadingly as he walked towards her, "Don't tell him!"

Hikari found herself sympathizing with him. Well. She supposed it was enough.

"I don't know," Hikari lied smoothly. She smiled at Yamato. "Why don't you ask him yourself?"

With those words, Hikari lowered the phone from her ear and held it out to Yamato, who looked at her in surprise then gave her a grateful smile as he took it from her. He exhaled, and then raised his phone, "Taichi."

"**Yamato," **Taichi's voice held a mixture of wry amusement, confusion and relief. **"What was that about?**_**!**_**"**

Yamato winced slightly. "Nothing…" He said, shoulders heaving with a sigh. He shot a glare towards Mimi, Jyou, Sora and Jun. "They just… enjoy teasing me."

"**Ah." **Yamato could imagine Taichi blinking, his brown eyes curious. **"Hey, Yamato-**"

"Ah, look at the time! I'm going to be late for our date!" Yamato cut him off quickly, a nervous look on his features, "I'll see you later, Taichi!"

The blond cut the call before Taichi could reply. He bit his lip as Mimi piped up, "Doesn't Taichi know you don't have a watch?"

"Shut up." Yamato grumbled, running a tired hand through his hair. "Weren't you the one who said this was supposed to be a surprise for our boyfriends?" He said scathingly.

Mimi just grinned at him. "If you do that, you'll mess up your perfect hair." She said cheerfully, choosing conveniently to ignore his begrudged question.

He would bet she had just wanted to get her revenge on him for teasing her in her moment with Jyou. Yamato replied with a glare across at Mimi, Sora, Jun and Jyou, who winced.

"Sorry Yamato…" the blue haired boy apologized guiltily.

Yamato looked at him. He looked at Mimi and Jun, who were grinning, Hikari and Sora who were smiling but were looking like they were trying not to grin. Feeling suddenly exhausted, he sighed and let his hand fall from his now messy blond hair, heaving a tired, worn out sigh.

"I really hate you guys…"

Mimi smirked, giving Yamato a sly wink which made him twitch.

"Love you too."

* * *

><p>Yamato entered his apartment tiredly with a sigh. Who knew Valentines' Day could be so exhausting?<p>

"Yamato!"

The blond looked up in surprise, blinking as he saw a brunet with spiky hair sitting leisurely on his couch. "Taichi."

Taichi grinned at him and leapt up, "I've been waiting! What took you so long?"

Yamato stared at him, then smiled. He was more than willing to forget the wayward conversation especially as Taichi was. "Sorry." He said. "I got delayed."

"By your fans?"

"Yeah," Yamato replied tiredly as he carried the now heavier bag of chocolates from girls. "I had to run away from them to get here." He grumbled, scowling. "They're on the lookout for me, especially since today's Valentines' Day."

"Well at least Jun is no longer crazy about you." Taichi attempted to cheer him up.

Yamato blinked. He smiled. "Yeah." He said wryly, heading to his room. "She's crazy about us now." He muttered.

"Sorry Taichi," he apologized guiltily and the brunet blinked at him. Yamato clutched at his hair. "My hair's a mess and I'm kind of sweaty, so I'll take a while."

"Eh? It's alright, Yama!" Taichi reassured him with a bright grin. He looked at the bag Yamato was carrying, saying teasingly, "Mind sharing that with me?"

"Sure, take it all," Yamato said gladly and moved to Taichi to dump the plastic bag of chocolates onto the couch, before he remembered something. The blond blinked and turned around, carefully lifting the small plastic bag with a light blue ribbon into his hand.

"Yamato?"

Yamato turned back around with a smile, the small plastic bag clutched securely in his closed hand. "Here." He placed the bag of chocolate from girls onto the couch. "All yours."

"Awesome!" Taichi said happily. He dove for the bag of chocolates, grabbing several into his hands, "When we get to my house we can share mine as well!"

"Yeah." Yamato smiled fondly at him. He turned and proceeded to his room, opening up his hand to reveal the chocolate symbol of Friendship. "Well, you can watch TV or something while waiting for me."

"Take your time." Taichi said in between mouthfuls of chocolate and Yamato smiled as he entered his room.


	6. Valentines' Night  Part I

_Well, it's been a while since I wrote for this story, I had work to do and my drawing of Yamato to work on. It was supposed to be him dancing DDR, I have no idea how he got on stage. But I had to give him his personalized guitar (and make him let go of his mike). Well, you can take a look at it if you're interested- it's my profile picture. Should take some time to load though. The clothes he's wearing are the clothes he's wearing in this chap. Maybe I'll do the DDR one another time._

_Edited the first chapter a bit too- for those curious, in the first scene, they're at a cafe, and in the second it's the next day and they were outside the school gates. I just realized I didn't state the location for the first scene._

_This is one of my favorite chapters so I hope it'll be worth the wait ;)_

* * *

><p>Yamato emerged from his room dressed casually in a black button down shirt with a breast pocket and long grey pants. He reached up to carefully feel a strand of blond hair which was still wet, inhaling then shoving a hand into his pocket and speaking, "Taichi."<p>

Taichi blinked. He looked up from the couch, smiling. "Yamato."

"Sorry…" Yamato apologized as he advanced towards the front of the couch. He sighed as he looked at his phone. "It's already 7.30PM…"

"Well, if you're tired we can just stay here," Taichi told him reassuringly. "You look like you've had a long day, Yamato."

"Eh? No, I meant, I'm sorry I'm so late for our date," Yamato said, guiltily averting his gaze. "I've probably ruined Valentines' Day for you."

"Yamato…" Taichi got up from the couch. He was clothed in a collared navy blue shirt Yamato had never seen him wear before, and long black pants which somehow suited him, which had a brown belt the color of his hair looped through them. Somehow, cool colors suited Taichi almost as well as warm colors did. Taichi walked towards Yamato, smiling as he cupped his boyfriend's cheek. "You can never ruin anything for me. Just being able to spend time with you…" the brunet murmured, looking at Yamato in the eyes, "Makes this the best Valentines' Day ever."

"Taichi…" Yamato whispered. His lips curved into a genuine smile, "I…feel the same."

Taichi smiled and he and Yamato shared a quick, sweet kiss. They drew away from each other, and Yamato blinked as Taichi plopped something on his head. He reached up a hand, raising his gaze curiously.

"Since you're so famous, I thought I'd buy you something to make for a quick disguise," Taichi winked at Yamato, "So that you can enjoy our date."

"Taichi," Yamato smiled as he lowered his hand from the grey cap. He reached out to grab his boyfriend's hand, leaning down to place a light kiss on Taichi's knuckles. Taichi blinked and Yamato grinned at him, "You're the best." He released Taichi's hand, and raised his hand to the cap Taichi had given him. "It's a good idea. My hair's still a mess."

"And you know it." Taichi returned his grin. "But, your hair's as perfect as always, Yamato!" Yamato felt his cheeks warm as Taichi leaned forward and kissed his cheek, then let his fingers intertwine with the blond musician's, smiling widely, "Come on, let's go!"

"_You look great too."_ Yamato thought fondly. "So, Jyou told me everyone now knows how good I am at dancing." He said casually with a smile as he and Taichi walked to the door.

"Oh yeah," Taichi used his free hand to rub the back of his neck with a sheepish grin, "Sorry 'bout that, Yama! I couldn't resist."

Yamato smirked. "Did you have fun at the arcade?"

"Yup! Koushiro and I played the shooting games together!" Taichi replied cheerfully, swinging his and Yamato's hands, "Oh and Takeru met Daisuke there with Ken, and they had a match at the Basketball game."

"Who won in the end?" Yamato asked curiously.

"Well, they tied." Taichi said as he opened the door, smiling. "They have quite good sportsmanship though, they shook hands and all." He shrugged.

Yamato blinked. "Daisuke's forgiven him?"

"I guess." Taichi said contemplatively. He looked at Yamato. "I think he found a boyfriend in Ken?"

"Seriously?" Yamato asked in surprise.

"Maybe, I didn't exactly ask him," Taichi commented casually, "They seemed pretty close though. They asked where you were." He shifted his gaze to Yamato, "I wish you were there, Yamato."

"That's what I said to Jyou." Yamato said as he clutched Taichi's hand. He smiled, blue eyes amused, "So, tell me all about your 'awesome plan', Taichi." He said, referring to the message Taichi had sent him by phone.

"But if I tell you about it, it won't be a secret!" Taichi protested and Yamato couldn't help but smile. He blinked at Taichi and the brunet grimaced, "Don't give me that look!"

"What look?" Yamato asked innocently.

"That look!" Taichi pointed accusingly at him. Yamato just blinked, pouting slightly, causing Taichi to frown at him. "Yamato!"

"What?" Yamato asked, tilting his head to the side.

Taichi glowered at him, "You know I can't help but give in when you do that!" He complained, "It's not fair, Yamato!"

Yamato blinked his blue eyes. "Really…Taichi?"

"Yamato!" Taichi looked away from him.

Yamato grinned. Hey, he had to pass on his suffering earlier in the day to someone, didn't he? What better option than his boyfriend? It was amusing how Taichi wanted to surprise him, and ironic that he didn't realize he had echoed his thoughts.

"Hey, Taichi…" Yamato inserted a pleading note into his voice, "You aren't going to tell me what we'll be doing for our date?"

"N-No…"

"But, Tai…"

The blond watched in amusement as Taichi grimaced and said, "Fine, fine!" The brunet spoke, turning his gaze back to him and he resisted the urge to smirk, making sure to keep the sad look on his face. "S-Since you didn't get the chance to go to the arcade just now, I thought I'd take you there. I mean, it should still be open…" Taichi rambled, "But I'm sure you must be hungry so I'm gonna take you to this great restaurant to eat first…"

"And?" Yamato encouraged.

"And after that we're going to watch a movie- well, I'll have to change the movie since the other movie is over by now…wait, I think the movie should be showing at night too…" Taichi muttered. "After the movie, if you're not tired, we can go to the park, the scenery's great from there."

"How romantic." Yamato teased and Taichi flushed.

"Now you know everything," the brown haired boy grumbled. He grimaced, raising a hand to his hair in exasperation, "Ah, why do I always fall for that trick?_!_"

Yamato smiled. "Because you love me." He said simply.

Taichi blinked at him, then smiled, reaching out to poke Yamato's cheek playfully. "Yeah, though you look so cute when you pout other people will probably give in as well," he shrugged, "But I do love you." He said easily.

"I know," Yamato replied, feeling happy. He smiled and leaned sideways to kiss Taichi's cheek, murmuring. "I love your plan."

"My should be secret plan," Taichi returned good naturedly, smiling as he brushed his thumb against the back of Yamato's hand. "In return for _your_ secret plan on Valentines' Day."

Yamato felt his face turn red. Well. "Ah, that…" he said awkwardly. He sighed, "You'll find out about that later…"

"Ah, so you _were _planning something." Taichi said with a knowing smile. "I knew it!"

"Kind of…" Yamato brushed off. Taichi smiled at him and he smiled back, "But enough about secret plans. Let's just enjoy our date."

"Even though _my _secret plan has been revealed," Taichi pouted and Yamato laughed. The brunet soccer captain grinned.

"Well c'mon, let's go stuff ourselves with delicious food!"

* * *

><p>"Go, Yama!"<p>

Yamato grinned as he moved swiftly. He smiled at Taichi then averted his gaze, flinging his arms out as he danced gracefully to the beat of the familiar music, letting his blue eyes close.

Maybe Taichi hadn't planned it, but it was a nice surprise all the same. Yamato smiled, as he moved his feet faster, opening his eyes as the guitar interlude played. He absorbed himself in the music, counting the beats to the next verse and murmuring the words to the song along with the singer, as the people at the arcade watched him in awe.

"He's _good_!"

"That's a new song, isn't it? It's really fast!"

"And he has his eyes closed!"

"He looks familiar somehow…"

"Oh my god that's the Teenage Wolves' song!"

"It's Ishida Yamato's voice!"

The blond rockstar was getting into the rhythm and wanted badly to belt out the words to the song, but restrained himself for fear of drawing attention to himself on his and Taichi's date. He stomped his foot hard on the part where his own voice shouted out passionately near the end of the interlude which was followed by his guitar solo, a smile on his lips, his blue eyes closed.

His voice came out swift and smooth from the machine, right on beat. Yamato danced the steps to his song fluidly until he reached the end, where his voice echoed out into the arcade. The ending instrumental came next and the beats were so fast that Yamato opened his eyes to get the last part where his bandmates ended the song off right.

His song ended with a bang, and Yamato smiled as his perfect grade popped up on the screen. There was a deafening round of applause and wolf whistles and cheering and it felt as if he was at one of his concerts. Yamato grinned widely, stepping down from the DDR machine. His eyes automatically searched for Taichi's, who was smiling happily at him and probably clapping the hardest of all, looking like he was restraining from shouting Yamato's name in pride, a look in his eyes which made Yamato's eyes widen in realization.

Before Yamato could stop himself, he threw his arms around Taichi, who caught him, wrapping his arms around him. "Damn it Taichi, I love you," the rockstar said in as loud a voice as he dared, "You planned this, didn't you?"

"Yup!" Taichi said happily. "Don't you love your song?"

"Yeah." Yamato grinned into his shoulder, "It's so awesome it's actually in DDR!"

"Well, I didn't put it in, I just found out it was in when I came to the arcade earlier with the other guys," Taichi winked slyly, "I knew you would love it."

"So your plan actually was secret after all." Yamato teased.

Taichi chuckled and drew Yamato away from him. "Of course, a leader's always got to have Plan B." He smiled, and reached up to adjust Yamato's hat. "Your cap's falling off."

Yamato grinned sheepishly as Taichi patted down his cap carefully, "Come on," he whispered, giving a quick glance at the excited people around them. "Let's get out of here before they notice it's me."

"Mhmmm." Taichi said. He smiled and moved to intertwine their fingers, then pulled Yamato out of the crowd. "Excuse me!"

They resisted at first, and Yamato resisted the urge to look up as he heard a multitude of voices. He closed his eyes and trusted Taichi to lead him away, in case there were any fangirls who would recognize his blue eyes.

"Who are you? I've never seen you before!"

"How did you get so good at DDR?_!_ I've been practicing for years and I'm not as good as you!"

"And that was a really fast song too, and a new one!"

"Oh my god, are you two together?_!_"

"What?"

"Look, they're holding hands!"

"They are!"

"They're gay?_!_"

"_He's_ gay!_?_"

"Well, you know what they say about guys who can dance…"

"Tch. He must have cheated!" A rugged boy said with a condescending sneer, "No one can be that good! Especially a fag!"

"Taichi." Yamato murmured as he felt Taichi's hand tense. "Let it go."

Taichi growled, but nodded. He advanced forward with Yamato, pushing past the people, "Excuse us."

"What, running away?" Another voice called tauntingly, "Coward! Fag!"

"You cheated! Shame on you!" The boy from earlier added with a derisive smirk. He cracked his knuckles.

Yamato opened his eyes. "Taichi-" he began tersely, but the brunet was gone.

Yamato grimaced as Taichi slammed his fist into the taller boy's face, inducing the sound of breaking bone and a howl of pure pain. Gasps resounded as the black haired boy fell onto the floor, yelling as he clutched his face. "Argh! Fuck you!"

Yamato watched as Taichi stared down at him coldly. Without looking away from the boy's fallen form, he shot his fist to the side, looking almost dangerous with his spiky hair, dark clothes and hard gaze and Yamato stared, stunned as the boy's companion got the brunt of Taichi's fist to his face, falling to the floor and causing the people to back away in fright.

Taichi withdrew his fist. "That's what you get for insulting him," He hissed down, brown eyes flashing, "He didn't cheat."

"Taichi!" Without thinking, Yamato rushed towards the brown haired boy, yelling disbelievingly, "What are you doing?_!_ Cool your head!"

Taich turned towards him in surprise and Yamato slapped a hand over his mouth, blue eyes wide, _"Oh shit."_

But it was too late. The people around them were staring at him, unable to believe their eyes and ears.

"Was that…Ishida Yamato's voice?"

"He's Ishida Yamato?_!_"

"No wonder he got a perfect score! He was dancing to his own song!"

"You mean Ishida Yamato is gay!_?_"

"OH my god, it's Ishida Yamato!"

"Those blue eyes, I'll recognize them anywhere!"

"Yamato-kun has a boyfriend?_!_"

"But I wanted to be his girlfriend!"

"Why is he gay_?_!"

"Shit, shit shit," Taichi muttered. He sprinted away from the two fallen boys to Yamato's side as the people began to crowd in on them, grabbing Yamato's wrist, "Let's go!"

Yamato nodded. He kept his hand on the hat on his head as he and Taichi dashed through the crowd, who soon snapped out of their surprise and began to chase them out of the arcade.

"Yamato-kun, wait for me!"

"Please give me your autograph!"

"Yamato-kun are you really gay?_!_"

"Marry me, Yamato-kun!"

"This way!" Taichi yelled, and he and Yamato curved around the bend. He grimaced. "This is like running from evil digimon in the past!"

Yamato couldn't help it. It was the least appropriate situation to smile, but he did, "True," he agreed, "Good thing it's made us fast runners."

Taichi blinked at him, then grinned, "Yeah." He glanced back, and frowned, "Damn, they're catching up."

Yamato watched as Taichi dug his hand into his pocket, taking out two movie tickets. He nodded to Yamato. "Come on, we've gotta increase our speed."

"Why are those people chasing them?"

"That guy looks familiar…"

"Wait…they're yelling something."

_"Wait up, Yamato-kun!"_

"Yamato- Ishida Yamato?_!_"

"Everyone, it's Ishida Yamato!"

Yamato groaned, and Taichi shouted to him above the noise of the crowd, "We're going into the theatre!" He said, "They can't reach us there!"

"We better hurry then, before the paparazzi come." The rockstar grimaced.

They soon reached the theatre, and Taichi thrust their movie tickets out to the surprised guard, his other hand still clutching onto Yamato's wrist, "Hurry and let us in!"

"Please!" Yamato added pleadingly, resisting the urge to glance back.

"R-Right." The surprised guard stuttered as he looked at the crowd. Fortunately, he didn't seem to be aware of Yamato's identity and allowed them entrance after he gave Taichi back the slips of their tickets, and Taichi and Yamato rushed in quickly, as the yells of the crowd faded away behind them.

"That was close." Taichi heaved a sigh when they were in the empty hallway. He ran a hand through his spiky brown hair, brushing a bead of sweat on his forehead away with his finger.

"Yeah…" Yamato said quietly.

Taichi smiled at him. "Come on," he tugged at Yamato's hand. "Let's go into the theatre in case some of them come in after us." He added wryly.

Yamato gave a nod and they walked to the theatre in silence, entering the darkness. Yamato felt a bit more relieved in the darkness where no one could identify them. His heart rate slowed as he and Taichi walked to their seats.

"It's official." Yamato groaned softly as he slumped into his seat, "Valentines' Day is exhausting."

"Mmmm." Taichi exhaled, moving his hand to Yamato's.

Yamato felt his heart clench in guilt, "I'm sorry," he murmured as he intertwined his fingers with Taichi's. "I've ruined our date."

Taichi looked at him in surprise. "Didn't I tell you, Yama? You can never ruin anything for me." He said with a smile, "We're still together, aren't we?"

"Besides, it's my fault. If anyone ruined anything, it's me," Taichi said with a sigh, clutching at a few locks of spiky brown hair, brown eyes dark with regret. "When the bastard insulted you, I just lost it. You were only trying to snap me back to my senses." He said, guilt in his voice, grimacing, "I'm sorry, Yamato. You're right. I should have just cooled off my head."

Yamato shook his head, a smile on his lips. "Hey, I wanted to smash my fist into his face too." He said in wry amusement, "But you did it for me."

"You should have, since you were revealed in the end anyway," Taichi smiled back at him, and Yamato felt the guilt in his heart fade away. Taichi grinned at him. "I would have cheered for you."

"Well, you scared me for a while there," Yamato admitted as he leaned against Taichi's shoulder. "I've never seen you so angry before, Taichi."

"Yeah, I kind of surprised myself as well," Taichi said softly, wrapping his arm around Yamato's shoulder, murmuring, "Sorry' bout that."

Yamato smiled, raising his gaze to meet Taichi's apologetic brown eyes. "It's alright." He said simply, relishing in the feeling of Taichi's hand in his. "I love you."

Yamato watched as Taichi smiled a beautiful smile, his brown eyes shining in the dark as he leaned down and kissed Yamato gently. "I love you too."

Yamato placed his free hand on Taichi's cheek, returning his kiss. They parted when a light shone down on them, raising their gazes to the movie screen. "The movie's starting."

"It's my first time watching a movie at night." Yamato murmured as he leaned against Taichi in contentment.

"Mmm." Taichi replied, as he brought Yamato closer to him in their couple seat. "I love you, Yamato."

"You're so cheesy today, Taichi," Yamato said in amusement, smiling with a wink, "But I'll forgive you since it's Valentines' Day."

"Valentines' Night." Taichi corrected, winking back and Yamato chuckled. He grinned, "What? It's true."

Yamato returned his grin, looking up. "Yeah, yeah," he said casually. "Now keep quiet, the movie's starting."

Taichi smiled and leaned his head against Yamato's, their fingers linked closely together as the darkness hid them from prying eyes.

"Anything for you, Yamato."


	7. Valentines' Night Part II

_Ah, I've been so busy lately...I don't think I can finish this by White Day..._

* * *

><p>"Ah, that was such an awesome movie!" Taichi said as he leaned back against his seat, stretching his arms. He turned to grin at Yamato, "Did you enjoy it, Yamato?"<p>

"You know I did." Yamato replied, smiling widely, referring to how he had spoken about wanting to watch the movie with Taichi. "You've really planned everything, haven't you?"

"Yup." Taichi replied cheerfully. Yamato moved to get up and he grabbed his wrist. "Ah wait," the brunet said. "Let them go first."

Yamato nodded, and sat back down. He watched as Taichi removed the rubber band from his wrist, holding it out to him. The blond blinked. "What?"

"Well, if you don't mind, you could tie your hair," Taichi told him with a smile, "In case the people who saw you before recognize you."

Yamato blinked again. He moved to remove the cap from his head, sliding the palm of his hand down the back of his head. His hair was quite long.

"Want me to help?" Taichi offered.

"Nah, it's fine." Yamato said. He took the rubber band from Taichi, gathering up his blond hair carefully and tying it into a low ponytail. "Is this fine?" He asked.

"Yeah." Taichi nodded with a grin. He took the cap back from Yamato, placing it on his own head of spiky brown hair with a wink, "This way, there's less chance of us being recognized."

"Mhmm." Yamato agreed. He reached out to smooth the cap down properly, muttering as he pushed back Taichi's brown locks, "Your hair is crazy."

"And your hair is pretty." Taichi said with a smile, unable to resist the urge to feel Yamato's ponytail. "Why is your hair so pretty, Yamato?"

"What kind of question is that?" Yamato asked wryly, but he was smiling as he adjusted Taichi's cap. "I have no idea, Taichi. Do you know why your hair is so spiky?"

"Nope. It's just naturally spiky!"

"Hmm. My answer would be the same as yours then." Yamato said distractedly. "More or less."

"Fair enough." Taichi nodded, allowing Yamato to attempt to push back his hair under the cap as he hummed, running his hand gently through Yamato's blond strands of hair in his ponytail. "Your hair's so soft, Yamato."

"Why thank you." Yamato said dryly. He sighed as he drew back from Taichi, "I give up. This is the best I can do." He said as he looked at Taichi's spiky brown locks sticking out from under his cap. "Can't you tie your hair too and stuff it under your cap?"

"Nah." Taichi said, still humming.

Yamato raised an eyebrow at him. "What are you humming?"

"Just an English song I discovered." Taichi said casually. He smiled, and sang softly in English, "_I can't help falling in love with you Yamato~"_

"I'm guessing the last part isn't in the song." Yamato said in amusement.

"Nope, or I would sue the music company," Taichi grinned at the blond musician, "'Cause you're mine."

Yamato chuckled, shaking his head fondly, "Whatever you say, Taichi," he moved to stand up, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Maybe you can introduce me to the song some other time, but I think we should go now, yeah?"

"Yeah," Taichi said as he followed Yamato out of the theatre. The brunet smiled. "You know, I would love it if you sang the song."

"Why?" Yamato asked curiously.

"'Cause your voice is beautiful of course," Taichi replied casually. "The song would sound even better with your voice, Yama."

Yamato couldn't help but flush, smiling, "Maybe I will." He murmured.

Taichi didn't seem to hear him, but that was alright. He was entitled to secrets of his own. They emerged out of the darkness into the light, walking in a peaceful silence in their disguises.

* * *

><p>"Ah look!" Taichi said suddenly, pointing, "Isn't that Koushiro and Sora?"<p>

Yamato blinked. "It is." He said.

Taichi grinned, moving forward towards their friends. "Hey! Koushiro! Sora!"

"Taichi!" Yamato hissed. He sighed as Taichi reached their friends, walking towards them.

It was one of the rare times he had seen Koushiro not in his school uniform. The computer genius was clothed in an indigo shirt with collars the color of violet, and grey pants a shade darker than his. Yamato thought wryly that purple suited him more than orange. It clashed with his hair in an interesting way.

"Taichi." Koushiro said in surprise, looking up.

Taichi grinned, laying his hands behind his head. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Well, we're on a date. Today is Valentines' Day," Koushiro said wryly as he held onto Sora's hand. "We just finished watching a movie."

"Oh. Oops."

"Taichi!" Yamato said as he neared Taichi, Koushiro and Sora.

"Sorry Yamato." Taichi said with an apologetic smile as Yamato glowered at him. He turned back to Koushiro, "What a coincidence! Yamato and I just finished watching a movie as well!"

Sora turned to Yamato in amusement. She was wearing faded blue jeans and an orange polo shirt which brought out the color of her shining eyes. Yamato noticed her hair had grown longer, touching the back of her neck. "He doesn't get it, does he?"

Yamato shook his head as he looked at her. "He doesn't." He agreed.

Sora smiled at him. She nodded to Koushiro and he released her hand reluctantly. "What's with the new look?" She asked as she stared at Yamato's ponytail, walking towards him.

Yamato blinked. "Oh, this?" He said, raising a hand to his ponytail. He glanced at Taichi, "Well, we kind of drew attention to ourselves in the arcade…"

"What happened?" Sora asked in concern.

"I was dancing to my song, and I got a perfect score," Yamato said mildly. "A guy got jealous and called me a fag, and Taichi snapped and punched him in the face."

Sora gasped, and Yamato smiled wryly, "Yeah," he said. "I yelled at him to stop, and everyone heard my voice." He shifted his gaze. "It was fine earlier since I was wearing Taichi's cap."

"So you two are in disguise." Sora realized. She followed Yamato's gaze, "And Taichi got angry at the guy?"

"Yeah, furious actually." Yamato nodded. "I almost couldn't believe it myself." He said, looking at Taichi who was chatting with Koushiro, who didn't look immersed in the conversation. "We've fought in the past when we were kids in the Digimon world, but he's never punched me with so much force. I haven't seen him so angry before."

"Well, I would have socked him in his face myself!" Yamato looked at her in surprise and Sora flushed but looked determined. She clenched her fist. "No one insults my friends and gets away with it!"

Yamato smiled at her. "Thanks, Sora." He said genuinely.

"I probably would have done the same," Koushiro spoke up and Yamato and Sora turned to him in surprise. He coughed, "Taichi told me about it."

"Really? Thanks Koushiro! I feel less guilty now!" Taichi smiled at Yamato, "Though I did use a bit too much force…"

"You were cool," Yamato said with a shrug and Taichi stared at him. He smiled, "Even if it wasn't right."

"That's the first time you've called me cool." Taichi said in awe.

Yamato just smirked. "Don't get used to it." He said simply.

"W-Well, I bet you would have thought Sora and Koushiro were cool too if they had done it," Taichi stuttered slightly, averting his gaze. "So it's no big deal, really."

"I think he's still trying to process the fact that you called him cool." Koushiro said, amused.

"That's right." Sora grinned.

Yamato smirked, looking to Taichi. "Are you, Taichi?"

"Uh, no, of course not!" Taichi said quickly, but his face was slightly red. He cleared his throat, puffing out his chest proudly, "I'm always cool!"

"I think that sentence is more suited for Yamato." Sora told Taichi and he glowered at her.

"Sora, don't ruin my image!"

"She's just speaking the truth." Koushiro pointed out.

Yamato smiled as Sora giggled and Taichi grimaced. He advanced towards Taichi, reaching out to place his hands on the flushed brunet's shoulders and smiling at him. "Should I be cheesy like you and say you could never ruin your image in front of me?" The blond musician said smoothly.

"Maybe." Taichi mumbled, cheeks red.

Yamato chuckled, moving to place a kiss on Taichi's red cheek. "I'll say it then." He spoke fluidly with a smile, "Don't worry. You could never ruin your image in front of me, Taichi."

Taichi sighed and leaned his head on Yamato's shoulder, wrapping an arm around his boyfriend's waist. "You're too sweet, Yamato."

"I beg to differ, Taichi." Yamato said simply. "I'm just being honest."

Taichi smiled. "I guess that works too." He said contentedly.

"_Both_ of you are too sweet." Sora's voice shook Yamato and Taichi out of their moment. They pulled apart and looked at her and she smiled at them, though her eyes shone with something they couldn't recognize, "Hikari is right. You two really deserve each other."

Yamato and Taichi flushed and Sora grinned. She reached out and grabbed Koushiro's hand, speaking cheerfully, "Come on Kou, let's leave the sweet lovebirds alone."

"Y-Yeah…" Koushiro said, surprised, as Sora lead him away.

"Sora!" Yamato and Taichi exclaimed at the same time.

Their synchronized voices only made Sora's grin widen and she turned to flash them a grin and blew a playful kiss, "Well, Koushiro and I will see you two lovebirds tomorrow!"

"We're not lovebirds!" Taichi protested. "We're just in love!"

"Oh we knew that!" Sora called back slyly as she and Koushiro walked away. "Have fun!"

Koushiro turned and nodded at them with a smile. "Bye Taichi, Yamato."

Yamato sweatdropped as he watched Koushiro and Sora walk away. "Isn't that the same thing?" He muttered. "What a cheesy term."

Taichi blinked. "You don't like cheese, Yamato?"

"…No?" Yamato said as he stared at Taichi. "Where did that come from?"

Taichi stared back at him, "Actually, I don't know." He admitted. "It's just, you keep on using that word…"

Yamato twitched, resisting the urge to facepalm. "Right…" forget what he said about Taichi being cool.

"Hey Taichi," Yamato said as he and Taichi walked along. Taichi turned to him curiously, and he said, "Do you think Sora will be happy with Koushiro?"

Taichi looked at him for a while, then nodded. "I hope so." He said, smiling. "Sora's a great person. She deserves to be happy."

"Yeah," Yamato agreed with a smile. He looked into the distance, murmuring, "I hope she'll be happy." He spoke the words from his heart, "You have a really caring childhood friend, Taichi."

"I know." Taichi said, lips curling into a fond smile as he looked at Yamato. "I must be one of the luckiest guys in the world. I have a caring childhood friend like Sora and an amazing boyfriend like you." He grinned. "I should thank my parents for giving me my name."

"Lucky Taichi," Yamato said teasingly. Taichi's grin widened and Yamato smiled and reached out to take Taichi's hand. "Same here." He admitted. "Sora's a really good friend."

"Uhuh." Taichi said as he stared at Yamato. The brunet smiled. "Hey Yamato? Don't worry."

"Eh?" Yamato looked at him in surprise.

"I know Sora. Sora wouldn't date Koushiro if she didn't at least like him," Taichi pointed out, smiling, "And Koushiro wouldn't date someone if he wasn't romantically interested in them." The brown haired soccer captain shrugged, "So, they'll be fine."

"Yeah." Yamato agreed, relieved. "Sora loves her friends too much to…" he trailed off, shaking his head when Taichi looked at him. "Never mind."

"If you say so." Taichi said readily. He smiled as he looked off to the same direction as Yamato. "Hey Yamato. Do you remember when we first started dating?"

"Yeah," Yamato smiled, "I'll never forget our first date."

"We were so awkward then!" Taichi laughed good naturedly. He grinned at their clasped hands, "We were too nervous to even hold each other's hand, and look at us now!"

"I spent hours on my hair for our first date." Yamato recalled.

"Don't you always do that?"

"Nah, I usually take an hour at the most," Yamato smirked, reaching up to sweep his blond locks to the side in a casual gesture, "If it's for a concert I'll spend longer though. Have to get my makeup done too."

Taichi grinned. "Then at the end of the day, we talked to each other," he said, remembering the memory, "That's when we finally figured out what was wrong."

"We were unsure on how to act," Yamato continued, smiling at Taichi. He chuckled in amusement at their past antics. "We were kind of being idiots, weren't we? Just because it was our first date. Somehow, we forgot we were friends first before boyfriends."

"Yeah! When we realized that, things became a lot better!" Taichi winked, "We shared our first kiss on our second date, didn't we?"

Yamato smiled. "We did." He glanced away, "You know, Koushiro and Sora seem to be faring better than us. It's their first date, as far as I know."

"Yeah, they were even holding each other's hand!" Taichi said almost admiringly and Yamato grinned.

"Not like us."

"Not like us before." Taichi corrected. He smiled and swung their hands lightly.

Yamato just shook his head in fond amusement, smiling as he and Taichi advanced forward.

"This feels so right now."

Taichi nodded, smiling happily as they headed to the escalator.

"Yeah, it does."

* * *

><p><em>Well, the kanji for Taichi's name is related to luck, hence Taichi's comment. Please review :) I'm working hard to try to get the next chapter up by tomorrow. Somehow, there's a lot to write and I'd really like some encouragement.<em>


	8. Love Under the Streetlights

_Love under the streetlights (Koushiro & Sora)_

"_**You can take my Love, Koushiro. I've…decided to give it to you. Not Taichi or Yamato, but you."**_

* * *

><p>"They look really happy together, don't they?"<p>

"Yeah." Koushiro replied as he turned his head, following Sora's gaze to Yamato and Taichi who were holding hands and smiling at each other.

Sora smiled. She returned her gaze to Koushiro, who smiled back at her, "Is there anywhere else you want to go, Sora?"

"What time is it?"

Koushiro blinked. He looked at his watch, "Its about ten." He said.

"Oh…" Sora frowned. "Sorry Koushiro, but I promised my mother I would be back by eleven…" she gave Koushiro an apologetic look.

"Alright then," Koushiro smiled, hiding his disappointment. He tugged at her hand gently, shifting his gaze to the escalator. Taichi and Yamato were gone.

"I'll take you home then, Sora."

* * *

><p>"Hey Koushiro?"<p>

"Yeah?"

Sora and Koushiro were walking under the streetlights, on the pavement towards Sora's home. Sora looked at the red haired boy, smiling at him, "I really enjoyed our Valentines' Day date today." She said honestly, "Thank you."

"Ah…" Koushiro flushed, but smiled. "It's no problem, Sora. I'm glad."

"You're sweet in your own way." Sora told him, her eyes bright, "I'm glad I've decided to try."

"I didn't have…knowledge on dating," Koushiro spoke nervously. He clenched his fist slightly, "For the first time, I felt so useless. I mean, I really wanted you to enjoy our date, but I didn't know what I should do." He bit his lip, averting his gaze. "This…is-was my first date."

"You don't always need to have knowledge, Koushiro." Sora relayed to him with a smile, "Sometimes, you just have to try things out for yourself. Only then will you be able to gain knowledge."

"Yeah." Koushiro found himself agreeing with her in surprise. He smiled, "I guess that's true."

Sora grinned at him, "So, do you have knowledge on dating now?"

"Yeah, I do."

They lingered in a peaceful silence, enjoying the serenity of the night. Koushiro looked at Sora as she roamed her gaze around the brightly lit area.

"So…" Koushiro began hesitantly. Sora turned to him and he inhaled. "What do you think Sora? Do you want to try a relationship with me?"

"Yeah." Sora breathed. She smiled at him, "I don't usually date guys who are younger than me but for you, Kou, I'll make an exception."

Koushiro blinked. Then he smiled a genuine smile, cheeks pink. "Thanks Sora…"

Sora looked at him. Then she stopped. Koushiro stared curiously at her, pausing in his tracks. "Sora?"

"Kou…shiro," Sora began hesitantly. She had her gaze directed towards the ground as he looked at her. Her fist clenched, "Is this really…alright with you?"

"Eh?"

"I mean, now that we've spent time together, and not just as friends; I've found that…I really like you," Sora spoke, raising her gaze to Koushiro's curious eyes. She smiled at him, "I didn't think I would, but I do. But…"

"But?" Koushiro said, dreading Sora's next words.

"I've liked someone else before you, and…my feelings for him haven't entirely faded away," Sora said, her eyes sad as she met Koushiro's eyes, "Even though he's with another."

To Sora's surprise, Koushiro just smiled at her, "That's alright," he said. Sora looked at him in surprise and he grinned, "I'm kind of guilty of that too."

"Eh?" Sora said, surprised.

Koushiro flushed, "I-uh, liked someone else too," he mumbled, "It was just a crush, but…" he trailed off.

"Let me guess…"

"Don't guess!" Koushiro held his hands out and Sora blinked. His face turned more red as Sora stared at him. "I-uh- I mean-"

"Okay, okay, I won't." Sora grinned at him and Koushiro felt his face heat up even more. She laughed, "You're cute, Kou."

"C-Cute?" Koushiro stuttered. "Why?"

Sora just shrugged, smiling at him, "I don't know- you're just," she searched for the word. "You're so different from the guy I liked, and I…like that." She raised her gaze, eyes softening, "It's…refreshing. You're just, you."

"Is that a good thing?" Koushiro asked curiously.

"Yeah," Sora smiled widely at him. Then she grew unsure, uncertainty appearing on her features, "But, are you really sure, Koushiro?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because, you deserve more than me," Sora told him, a serious look in her eyes. "You deserve more than someone who may still have feelings for someone else who's not you."

"Sora," Koushiro reached out to clasp her hand, looking into her eyes. "It's okay, really."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Koushiro nodded. He hesitated, before saying, "I…really like you, Sora. As long as you don't use me as a substitute," he swallowed, then smiled genuinely, "I'll be happy to have you."

"Koushiro…" Sora felt tears brim in her eyes. She smiled, blinking them away, shaking her head, "You really are sweet."

Koushiro blinked. Before he could reply, Sora looked up at him. He was taller than her now, and she smiled up at him, inhaling then speaking, "Koushiro…I have something to give you."

"Eh, what for?" Koushiro asked, confused.

Sora just smiled. She drew her hand away from his and he allowed her to. "I couldn't spend time with you earlier in the day because I've been busy with this." She said, reaching into the pocket of her jeans.

"Ah," Koushiro said in realization. He smiled, "Is it what you and the other girls have been working on?"

"And Yamato," Sora reminded with a tinge of something he didn't know. She returned Koushiro's smile, and carefully pulled the small plastic bag wrapped with a light red ribbon out of her pocket.

"Koushiro…this is for you."

"S-Sora…" Koushiro's black eyes widened as he stared at the present Sora was holding out to him, "This…"

"It's not just a heart," Sora told him, smiling wryly. "It's…"

"Your crest." Koushiro finished for her as he stared at the marks and patterns carved onto the heart with red icing which resembled Sora's crest. "Love."

"You can take my Love, Koushiro. I've…decided to give it to you." Sora tilted her head, her orange eyes shimmering, a smile on her lips, "Not Taichi or Yamato, but you."

"I-I…" Koushiro stumbled, black eyes wide, "S-Sora, I can't accept this-"

"Don't be silly, Kou!" Sora grabbed Koushiro's hand and placed the plastic bag with the chocolate Crest of Love onto his hand, smiling at him, "I said I wanted to try, didn't I?"

"Happy Valentines' Day, Koushiro." Sora added as Koushiro stared at the chocolate crest in his hand with various emotions in his black eyes.

"I…" Koushiro began. He tried to form words, but seemed unable to. Sora watched him in wry amusement as Koushiro sighed, hanging his head, "I'm stumped. I have absolutely no knowledge of what to say to such a precious gift like this…"

Sora couldn't help but grin, "You don't have to say anything, Koushiro." She winked, "Though a thank you would be nice."

"…You're right." Koushiro smiled at Sora, and Sora felt a smile form on her lips as she saw happiness in his dark eyes, "Thank you, Sora." He closed his fingers over Sora's gift to him carefully, "I will treasure this."

Sora blinked. "Aren't you going to eat it?"

Koushiro blinked. He allowed his fingers to part, staring down at the chocolate crest of Love. "Do I have to?" He asked reluctantly.

"Of course! It's chocolate, isn't it?" Sora smiled. "It's Valentines' Day chocolate."

"Oh…" Koushiro said in realization. He raised his gaze, smiling at her, "I'll eat it then."

Sora watched as Koushiro untied the light red ribbon carefully. She smiled as he slipped the light red ribbon into his pocket, pulling the plastic apart with careful fingers. He reached into the plastic and lifted the chocolate crest of Love.

"Go on." Sora said. Koushiro looked at her, then brought the chocolate to his mouth.

"How is it?" Sora asked, nervousness in her voice. She bit her lip slightly, "It's fine if it isn't nice, you can spit it out-"

"It's delicious." Koushiro said and Sora blinked. He took another bite of the chocolate heart, smiling at her, "It tastes really good, Sora."

"I'm glad." Sora smiled in relief. She flushed slightly, "I had to try a few times to get it right, so…"

"You must have worked really hard on this," Koushiro commented as he bit into the chocolate crest of Love again. A smile spread across his lips as he looked at her, "Thank you, Sora. I really appreciate it. I'm…" he inhaled, "Touched, really."

"And…" the red haired boy sighed, looking off to the side, "I feel guilty I didn't get you anything."

Sora blinked. "But it's Valentines' Day, Kou." She pointed out.

"I know," Koushiro said. He bit into the almost finished chocolate, smiling sheepishly, "But, I still feel bad."

"Well, you can return the favor on White Day." Sora reassured him.

"Ah," Koushiro said as he ate the chocolate. He smiled at Sora with a nod, relief in his eyes. "That's true."

Sora grinned, "Besides, you already gave me something," Koushiro blinked at her and she elaborated, "You gave me a wonderful date." She smiled, a teasing tone entering her voice, "Taking me to the arcade on a date…you really know what I like, don't you?"

"W-Well, you seemed to be enjoying yourself when we went there as friends before," Koushiro blushed, muttering, "So…I thought you would enjoy it. E-Even if it's not exactly a conventional place for a date…"

"And I did." Sora's lips curled into a soft smile as she turned her gaze down to the plastic bag she was holding. "And you even won me a prize too."

She watched as Koushiro leant down and picked the stuffed peacock out of the plastic bag. He held it up, examining it, "I could have won you a bigger one," he said. "But I haven't been to the arcade in a while, so my skills were lacking."

"Lacking? You succeeded on the first try!" Sora said in a tone of amusement and disbelief, "I couldn't even grasp the toy!"

"Ah, it's no big deal," Koushiro said modestly. He smiled at Sora, "These games are tricky but there's a way around them. You just have to calculate the right angle and do some simple physics."

"Leave it to you to involve Physics in the arcade," Sora teased, smiling, "But, that's really impressive."

Koushiro felt his face warm, "So…do you like it?" He asked almost shyly.

"Yeah," Sora said. She plucked the stuffed peacock toy gently out of Koushiro's hand, looking at the colorful feathers and its bright blue eye which shone under the streetlight, with a fond smile, cuddling it to her chest. "I really like it. Thanks, Koushiro."

"N-No problem, Sora."

Sora smiled. She drew the peacock soft toy away and placed it carefully back into the plastic bag. She would bet Mimi would be jealous if she ever showed her new prized possession to her. She loved anything pretty. Or cute. Especially if it was a stuffed toy. She might even ask Jyou to help her catch one to add to her collection.

Sora smiled in amusement at the notion, then raised her gaze to the dark sky. The crescent moon was shining its ethereal light down on them, surrounded by stars, "The moon's really pretty tonight."

"Yeah." Koushiro agreed. They exchanged a smile, then continued walking along the pavement.

"You still haven't finished the chocolate?" Sora asked in surprise when they reached her house.

"Uh…" Koushiro flushed. "I kind of don't want to finish it so fast." He admitted. "I mean, it's such a special gift…"

Sora smiled at him. "Oh Kou." She said. Koushiro looked at her, and she met his eyes, "That chocolate was based on my crest of Love. It's a symbol of my love."

"But this…" Sora raised a hand, pointing a finger to her heart, a wry smile on her lips. "This is my love. It's where my love is. And it's not perishable like the chocolate," her smile widened at Koushiro's surprised look, "So you don't have to worry."

"Sora…" Koushiro blinked his black eyes when Sora leaned forward and kissed his cheek gently. He felt his face warm when she withdrew and winked at him, "We're a couple, aren't we?" She said, orange eyes amused, "That was a display of my…inexhaustible love."

"Inexhaustible." Koushiro breathed.

"That's right," Sora said brightly. She smiled widely at Koushiro, then turned, stepping up to her front door, "Well, goodnight Koushiro. Happy Valentines' Day."

"Happy Valentines Day, Sora. Goodnight." Koushiro smiled, with a wave. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Sora returned his smile. She then turned back, opening the door and stepping inside, the door closing softly behind her.

Koushiro smiled. He turned, and popped the rest of the chocolate based on Sora's crest of Love into his mouth.

They were together. They were a couple. He and Sora were a couple- she had said so herself. They might not be like Yamato and Taichi, who were so attuned to each other and were clearly in love, or Jyou and Mimi, who, despite their long distance relationship, never faltered in their love for each other. And of course they weren't like Hikari and Takeru, who had known each other since they were kids, stayed together as they grew up and eventually became lovers.

They were them. They were Sora and Koushiro. Koushiro wasn't sure what the future would hold for them. He had no knowledge of how their relationship would end up as.

But Koushiro didn't mind. Like Sora had said, he didn't always need knowledge. Sometimes, he had to go and try it out for himself.

The red haired boy smiled. He advanced forward, closing his eyes, a smile on his lips.

For once, he didn't mind his lack of knowledge at all.


	9. Sincerity at the Beach

_Sincerity at the beach (Jyou & Mimi)_

"_Jyou…we may not be suited for each other, but I want to make our relationship work. So…have my Sincerity."_

* * *

><p>"It's been such a long time since I've been to the beach!"<p>

"The last time I've been to the beach was when we were running from Metalseadramon's minion." Jyou said, smiling.

Mimi giggled, and turned her amused gaze to Jyou, "You really know how to dress, don't you?"

Jyou blushed, but smiled, "I could say the same to you."

Mimi gave him a grin. She was wearing a pink skirt which complemented her pink hair and a blue blouse the color of the sea. She looked at Jyou, who was clothed in black slacks and a grey jacket over a casual white button down shirt.

"I really like the beach at night," Mimi said softly, and Jyou blinked. She smiled at him, scooting closer to the blue haired boy. "It's really peaceful."

"It is," Jyou agreed, glad he had agreed to Mimi's request to go to the beach, despite its distance.

The pink haired girl and blue haired boy exchanged smiles. They relaxed in silence, relishing in the cool night breeze, staring out at the dark sea as the waves splashed against the shore.

It was nice, being out in nature like this. Here at the beach, it was just the two of them. There was no work to worry about, no bustle of people through the busy streets, just them and the sand and the calm blue sea.

"Jyou?" Mimi whispered.

"Yeah?" Jyou replied.

Mimi smiled as she held onto Jyou's hand, staring out at the dark blue sea. Their hands were in between them, like a calm reassurance of the other's presence in this place of serenity.

"Do you think we'll stay together?"

"Of course," Jyou replied without hesitation. "Why wouldn't we?"

"Because we can't see each other everyday," Mimi said, and she gripped Jyou's hand tighter, "I'll have to return to America tomorrow."

"I know," Jyou said. Mimi turned to him and he smiled at her, clutching her hand, "I'll wait for you to come back."

"Jyou…"

"So for now, just relax, alright?" Jyou told Mimi, smiling at her reassuringly, "Let's not think about the unnecessary things."

"Okay," Mimi agreed softly. She smiled, and rested her head on Jyou's shoulder, "Thank you, Jyou."

"You're welcome, Mimi."

Mimi smiled. She allowed herself to relax in the peaceful serenity of the beach, closing her eyes as the waves crashed against the shore, the sound seemingly like something distant with Jyou's presence. Her smile widened as she felt Jyou bring an arm around her. Jyou was too kind to her, really.

The pink haired girl slipped her hand into the pocket of her skirt, her fingers brushing against the plastic. She looked up at her blue haired boyfriend, who turned to smile down at her, and made her decision.

"You know, Jyou," Mimi began hesitantly. Jyou blinked and she swallowed slightly, "I know I already gave you something for Valentines' Day, but I have something else to give you. And…it's something, significant."

Jyou stared, then smiled at her, "Really Mimi?"

Mimi nodded. She removed her head from Jyou's shoulder and her hand from his, looking into his obsidian eyes as she pulled the plastic bag out of her pocket by its light green ribbon. Jyou blinked, then his eyes widened as he saw what it contained.

"Mimi, that's…"

"Jyou…we may not be suited for each other, but I want to make our relationship work." Mimi said with the sincerity she felt in her heart as she met Jyou's surprised eyes, presenting her chocolate crest of Sincerity to the blue haired boy. So…have my Sincerity."

"M-Mimi…"

"This…represents my true feelings, Jyou. I want to give it to you…I want you to know my feelings for you are sincere and pure." Mimi said nervously, but with a resolute look in her eyes, "I love you because you're you, Jyou. Not because you're going to become a doctor, or because you've grown more handsome," she winked, "Though I'm not complaining about that."

Jyou blushed. "Mimi…" he smiled and moved to clasp her hand. "Thank you…it means much to me. I want to…" he inhaled, looking at her in the eyes, "I want to be someone you can rely on as well. I want to be honest with my feelings towards you…"

"Jyou…"

"I'll be loyal towards you Mimi, always." Jyou smiled lovingly at her, looking into her almond eyes which he loved. He nodded. "This I promise you."

"Awww, Jyou!" Mimi grinned at him brightly. "You're so sweet! Do you know that's the name of a song?"

Jyou blinked. "Eh?"

"'This I Promise You. It's the name of a song in America," Mimi smiled widely, brown eyes sparkling with excitement. "It's an old song but it's one of my favorite songs!" The pink haired girl squealed. "I'm so happy my boyfriend quoted it to me! You're such a romantic, Jyou!"

"Eh? I didn't mean to be romantic…" Jyou flushed, "I was just being…honest."

Mimi giggled, "That's what I love about you, Jyou," she said sincerely, smiling up at her boyfriend. "Your honesty."

"Mimi-" Jyou was cut off as Mimi placed her lips on his in a soft kiss. He blinked, then smiled as he brought his arm around her slim waist, bringing her closer to him as they kissed.

The kiss was dazzling like Mimi had once thought it would be, if Jyou and her kissed at the beach. Back then, he had always seemed to be only in her dream, too far away for her to reach. Now she was kissing him, and he was kissing her back.

Mimi smiled against Jyou's lips as he moved his hand to her hair. She intertwined their fingers, allowing herself to relish in the feeling of kissing her love.

Jyou and Mimi soon parted, smiling at each other. Mimi smiled as she met Jyou's obsidian eyes illuminated by soft moonlight, "Hey, Jyou?"

"Yes, Mimi?"

"I wrote a song about you once," Jyou stared at Mimi in surprise and she blushed, "But that was a long time ago! When we still had our digimon!"

"Why?" Jyou asked.

"Um, because…" Mimi started nervously. She sighed, and raised her gaze to Jyou's. "I guess it's because I really liked you, but I didn't think we'd ever be together."

"But we are," Jyou said, smiling at her. He reached out, touching her hand which held her chocolate crest of Sincerity gently. "We're together now, Mimi."

"Yeah." Mimi said contentedly.

Jyou's smile widened. "Will you sing it to me?" He asked.

"Eh?"

"The song you wrote." Jyou clarified. He smiled sheepishly, "I'd like to hear it."

"Now?"

"If you don't mind." Jyou said. "Did you name it?"

"Yeah. It's called, 'Because We Can See Each Other Anytime.'" Mimi flushed, but smiled wryly, "Which is kind of ironic now."

Jyou smiled, "Sing it for me?" He said softly. "You have a really pretty voice."

"Alright." Mimi said. She closed her eyes, recalling.

_Naze kokoro to karada wa hanareranai yo?_

_**Why can't our minds separate from our bodies?**_

_Sono shitsumon wa suteki_

_**That question is so beautiful.**_

Mimi opened her eyes, smiling as she stared up at the person she had wrote the song for, singing softly.

_Kimi e to wink and kiss_

_**With a wink and kiss**_

_Tsukamaete ageru_

_**I'll catch you**_

The words she had intended to be the chorus came to her easily and Mimi's smile widened as she sang, sang the secret thoughts she had had about Jyou, to him.

_Mahiru no hoshi ni nagai kami chiribamete_

_**The mid-day stars decorate my long hair**_

_Mabushisa no kiss shizuka ni kudasai_

_**Please quietly give me a dazzling kiss**_

Mimi sang in a high pitched soft voice, conveying her feelings to Jyou through the song she had written about him- and finally could show him. She smiled as Jyou stared at her in what seemed like awe, grinning a little as he opened his mouth, then shut it, not wanting to interrupt her singing.

_Mahou ga tokeru toki koibito ni nareru ka mo_

_**Maybe we'll become lovers when the spell is broken**_

_Dakedo ima wa kimi no yume no naka ni iru dake_

_**But for now I'm only in your dream**_

Mimi ended the chorus, holding the last note for about one and a half seconds. She locked her almond gaze with Jyou's obsidian, smiling.

"You have stars in your hair now," Jyou said as he stared at the yellow stars in Mimi's pink hair. He blinked, then flushed as Mimi blinked at him, looking up at her shyly, "So…was the kiss dazzling?"

"It was." Mimi whispered as she and Jyou leaned towards each other, their lips meeting in a slightly more passionate kiss.

"Mmmm…" Mimi made a small sound of pleasure as she and Jyou entangled their tongues. Jyou panted softly into her mouth as he kissed her and Mimi's cheeks flushed, as she brought her hands up, running her fingers through Jyou's long blue hair as he pushed her back slightly, his hands sliding down her shoulders.

"Jyou." Mimi gasped when they withdrew. They stared at each other, then blushed.

"S-Sorry…" Jyou stuttered, twiddling his thumbs in a nervous manner. "I got carried away…"

"Eh? No it's not that," Mimi said, blushing, "I just…needed air."

Jyou stared at her as she looked at him. Then he chuckled, and Mimi felt a smile play on her lips, as a laugh built up in her throat.

"We're so…silly!"

"Yeah!" Jyou grinned, his black eyes amused. He scratched the back of his head sheepishly, meeting Mimi's bright almond eyes, "We're silly lovers."

"We're lovers," Mimi said happily, smiling at Jyou, "I'm no longer just in your dream, am I?"

"I should think not, since you caught me with a wink and kiss." Jyou's grin grew. Mimi winked at him, blowing a kiss charmingly, and he laughed, shaking his head. "Mimi!"

"Yes, Jyou?" Mimi questioned cheerfully.

Jyou smiled at her. "Should I start learning how to be a psychic instead of a doctor?" He teased. "So that I can separate my mind from my body."

"Nope, 'cause you're going to be a handsome doctor!" Mimi smiled widely at him. Jyou returned her smile and she moved to rest her head on his chest. "I'm happy enough we're lovers. We don't have to be able to see each other anytime."

Jyou smiled, and wrapped his arms around Mimi. "Did you compose the song?" He murmured.

"Kind of," Mimi said softly, "I play the flute, you see."

"I didn't know that." Jyou smiled in surprise. "Will you play it for me sometime?"

"Sure," Mimi replied happily. "I would love to."

"Do you play a musical instrument, Jyou?"

"A long time ago," Jyou said, as he met Mimi's eyes, "I used to play the piano."

"Why did you stop?"

"To be honest, I don't know," Jyou shrugged. He raised his gaze to the stars twinkling in the night sky, "I guess it wasn't really important to me at that time. I mean, my studies were more important."

"What about now?"

"My studies are still important," Jyou said. He lowered his gaze back to Mimi, smiling softly, "But I've found something else that's more important."

"So," Mimi grinned cheekily, "Will you take up the piano again for me?"

"Maybe," Jyou grinned back at her, "I've probably forgotten everything though!"

"Well, I don't think it's easy to forget music," Mimi said contemplatively. She smiled and snuggled into Jyou's chest. "If you learn the piano again maybe we'll be able to play a duet someday!"

"Yeah," Jyou said in contentment as he held Mimi close to him. "But a piano and a flute? That's quite an unusual combination."

"We'll manage somehow." Mimi said, and Jyou looked to see she had her eyes closed, a smile on her lips. "It'll be fun."

Jyou smiled at the serene expression on Mimi's face. "Yeah." He murmured, and placed his hand over hers, which still held the plastic bag which contained the chocolate crest of Sincerity, placing his thumb on the light green ribbon. "I love you, Mimi."

"I wish we could stay like this forever."

Mimi smiled softly, and Jyou closed his eyes, taking in Mimi's sincere words from her heart, a smile on his face.

"I love you too…Jyou."

* * *

><p>Mimi's song is 'Itsu demo Aeru Kara', it's her Season 1 image song and I believe she's singing about Jyou. Jyou and Mimi are too sweet together. And well, Mimi's character theme 'Sweet Innocent' is her character song in instrumental version, so I thought the flute suited her. She could have composed her song (for Jyou) on the flute like Yamato composed his song 'Walk on the Edge' to Taichi on his harmonica. Well, hope you enjoyed the Jyoumi scene. ;) Please review.<p> 


	10. A Light of Hope

_A Light of Hope (Takeru & Hikari)_

_"You've…always given me Hope, Takeru. I hope to be able to give you Light in return."_

* * *

><p>"So, what's the next part of your secret plan?" Yamato asked teasingly as he and Taichi walked to the park. "Are we going to have a romantic picnic under the stars?"<p>

"Nah, I didn't bring any food," Taichi grinned. They reached the park bench and sat down, looking up at the night sky. "I thought you'd like the scenery here."

"It's peaceful." Yamato nodded in agreement, smiling.

"You know," Taichi said suddenly and Yamato looked at him. He was staring up at the sky, and shifted his gaze to the blond, "The moon's really pretty tonight."

Yamato blinked. He raised his gaze to the bright crescent moon in the sky. "I suppose so." He observed. "Why?"

Taichi's smile widened. "Well," he began almost shyly, placing his hand on Yamato's as he met the blond's blue eyes. "I've always thought you were like the moon."

Yamato blinked, before his lips curved into an amused smile. "Is that so?"

"Yup," Taichi said cheerfully.

"Why?"

Taichi shrugged. "Eh, I don't know," he admitted. "Maybe it's 'cause of your hair?"

"Taichi, the moon's silver."

"Well it can be yellow or gold sometimes!" Taichi defended and Yamato cracked an amused smile. Taichi grinned sheepishly at him.

"Or maybe…it's 'cause your eyes remind me of the night," the brunet murmured, and Yamato blinked his blue eyes. "They're just so…blue."

"Shouldn't they remind you of the sea?" That was what he had heard his fangirls say.

"Nah, they remind me of the night," Taichi said, still staring at him. He smiled, "I love your eyes, Yamato."

"You're not the only one." Yamato said teasingly, but his fingers sought for Taichi's. "My sun."

Taichi blinked, seeming to pause in his thoughts. "What?"

"Uh." Yamato said when he realized what he had let slip. "Nothing, Taichi."

"Eh? Yama!"

"_Damn."_ Yamato cursed in his mind as Taichi stared at him pleadingly. He mentally hit himself for his carelessness.

"I said…you're like the sun," Taichi stared at him and Yamato felt his face warm, turning it away. "You always cheer me up and brighten up my day, so…"

Taichi grinned, "So I'm your sun?"

Yamato nodded, and Taichi smiled. He reached out his hand to Yamato's chin, turning the flushed blond towards him. "I like that." He said lowly as he met Yamato's dark blue eyes, "My moon."

"My mystical, beautiful moon," Yamato's eyes widened as Taichi's brown eyes twinkled like the stars in the night sky, "I meant it when I said the moon's really pretty tonight." He said. "You're beautiful, Yamato."

"W-Where did you get that from?" Yamato attempted to brush off, smiling, "Some romance novel?"

"My heart." Taichi said and Yamato felt his heart skip a beat.

Since when had _Taichi_ become so romantic? Why was he being so romantic? Well, it was Valentines' Day, but…

"Yamato…" Yamato's heart was beating fast as Taichi leaned towards him and he felt almost nervous, almost as if he and Taichi were on their first date. He felt Taichi slip his fingers between his as his lips brushed against his-

"So, did you have a good time?"

Yamato's eyes widened and he almost started. He placed his hands on Taichi's shoulders and pushed the brunet back. Taichi looked surprised, and Yamato gave him an apologetic look as disappointment flashed in the brown haired boy's eyes.

"Of course."

Taichi blinked, and both him and Yamato shifted their gazes. They watched as Hikari and Takeru walked into the park, holding hands. They smiled at each other, and moved to sit down on a park bench.

"It's been so long since then." Yamato heard Hikari say. Takeru turned to her and she smiled at him, "Do you remember when we first met?"

"Yeah," Takeru replied, smiling at Hikari, his hand resting gently on hers. "I do."

"We were both so young then," Hikari said in fond nostalgia, smiling up at the night sky. She turned to Takeru, "Weren't we?"

Takeru nodded, "We were the youngest in the group," he said as he recalled the past. His lips curved into a wry smile. "And yet, we were made to deal with the most."

"Uhuh." Hikari said. She leaned against Takeru and he smiled at her, "You've always protected me, right?" She said, her ruby eyes softening.

"I guess," Takeru murmured, placing an arm around Hikari's shoulders. "I didn't want you to get hurt."

Hikari smiled, and laced her fingers with Takeru's, "It was so scary," she said softly, "Running away from Piedmon, falling through thin air."

"I thought I was gonna die," Takeru agreed. He smiled. "But then I remembered my brother, and the others," he swallowed slightly, then spoke as he met Hikari's eyes. "And I remembered I had to protect you."

"Takeru…" Hikari whispered. She seemed to hesitate for a moment, before she drew away. Takeru turned to her questioningly, and she smiled at him. "I…have something for you."

"Something for me?"

He watched as Hikari moved her hand to her pocket, carefully fishing out a small plastic bag tied with a light pink ribbon, with chocolate inside. He blinked at her, and she turned nervous eyes to him.

"Hikari?"

Hikari inhaled, and prepared herself to say one of the cheesiest things she would ever say.

"You've…always given me Hope, Takeru. I hope to be able to give you Light in return." She said as she met Takeru's surprised blue eyes, as she held out her chocolate crest of Light towards him, feeling her face warm. "So…here. Happy Valentines' Day."

"Hikari…" there was a light flush on Takeru's cheeks and Hikari prayed she had phrased her words right. He reached out to receive the plastic bag with a light pink ribbon from Hikari, "Didn't you…already give me the cake?"

Hikari's face fell, "You don't like it?"

"Eh? No, I like it!" Takeru amended quickly, blue eyes widening. "I really like it!"

"It's just…you've done so much for me on Valentines' Day, I'm really…" Takeru swallowed, his blue eyes shining with emotion as he met Hikari's red eyes, "Touched."

Hikari smiled widely, and moved her hand back to Takeru's. "That makes me happy." She said, happiness in her voice.

"Hikari…" Takeru murmured. Placing Hikari's gift to him gently onto the park bench, he drew closer to the brown haired girl, smiling genuinely at her as he moved his free hand to her cheek. "You know, you've always given me light."

"Even back then, when I was watching your back…" Takeru's sapphire gaze never left Hikari's ruby eyes, "You were my light, Hikari. You've always been. I just didn't have the courage to tell you then." He spoke honestly, "_You're_ the one who's always given me hope."

"Takeru," Hikari smiled, her ruby eyes softening as she met her love's sapphire eyes, "I've always seen hope in your pretty eyes."

"…Pretty?" Takeru looked amused and surprised at the same time, "No one has ever called my eyes pretty before. I thought that would apply more to my brother's."

"Well, I'm going to be the only one," Hikari said and Takeru laughed. She smiled at him, cheeks tinted pink, "I've always felt your eyes on me. They've always been…my beautiful treasure."

"Treasure…" Takeru murmured. He smiled at her, his next words a whisper, "Hikari…you're my beautiful treasure. My light…of hope."

"Takeru…" Hikari felt tears brim in her eyes. She blinked them back, smiling happily at her love, "I love you."

"I love you too, Hikari." Takeru replied, his blue eyes softening. He brushed his thumb against Hikari's cheek, and leaned forward to capture her lips in a gentle kiss, "My Light."

Hikari smiled, and looped her arm around Takeru's neck as she returned his gentle kiss, the moonlight shining down on them.

"How…romantic." Yamato said as he watched Takeru and Hikari. _"Like brother, like sister."_ But he smiled, glad his little brother had found love.

"Yeah," Taichi murmured. He grasped Yamato's hand, and the blond turned to him. Taichi smiled. "C'mon, let's go. We should give them their privacy."

"They didn't notice us," Yamato commented softly as he and Taichi walked away from the park bench.

"Mhmm," Taichi agreed. "They only saw each other."

"And to think," Yamato smiled in nostalgia, his blue eyes fond, "We've been so protective over them."

"Yeah, we've even had arguments over that," Taichi said distractedly as he and Yamato walked away from the park. He turned to Yamato. "Hey, what did Hikari give Takeru? I couldn't see it properly."

"I…don't know," Yamato lied, "I couldn't really see it either."

"Hmmm." Taichi said. He seemed to remain silent after that.

"Taichi?" Yamato questioned as he looked at the unusually quiet brunet, "Is something wrong?"

"It's nothing," Taichi brushed off. He smiled, but Yamato could see it didn't reach his eyes. "Who knew our little siblings were so romantic?"

"Yeah." Yamato said with a smile, wondering what Taichi was keeping from him. They reached the streets, and he looked at Taichi. "So, I guess we'll part here?"

"Actually," Taichi said as he stared at Yamato, "I was thinking we could go to my house."

"Your house?" Yamato asked in slight surprise. "You want to have a sleepover?"

"Something like that," Taichi muttered. He inhaled, then smiled at Yamato as he met his eyes. Yamato blinked at the sudden determination in Taichi's eyes. He watched as the brunet averted his gaze, speaking with a forced casualness as they walked under the moonlight.

"Come on Yamato. I have one last surprise for you."

* * *

><p>Yeah, really cheesy chapter but I didn't really make anything up. 'Cause Hikari's and Takeru's words to each other are lyrics, words from their character songs. Hikari called Takeru's eyes her treasure and Takeru said he's always been watching her back. :) Thought it'd be nice to put it in here. Well, hope you enjoyed and please review. Next chapter's finally gonna be Taichi &amp; Yamato.<p> 


	11. The Key of Friendship

_The Key of Friendship (Taichi & Yamato)_

"_You know, Taichi…__you gave me the courage to take the key."_

* * *

><p>"Close the door." Taichi said as he and Yamato entered his room.<p>

Yamato blinked, but obliged. He turned around and shut the door softly, then twisted back round to see Taichi holding a violin, moving away from his closet. He blinked again.

"Sorry, but give me one minute to tune this, will you?" Taichi said as he positioned the violin on his shoulder with an ease that spoke of practice.

Yamato nodded, too surprised to say anything. He stood at the door and listened as Taichi drew the bow across the strings, his eyes closed.

The sounds of the violin were all that filled Taichi's messy room for a minute. It felt longer than a minute to Yamato as he listened as the violin's sound became clearer than before, staring at Taichi's closed eyes.

It was almost ridiculous- not the fact that Taichi played the violin, though that was definitely surprising. No, it was the fact that Taichi was merely tuning his instrument but with his eyes closed, and a smile forming on his lips, it was as if he were playing an actual song- a song that brought peace and serenity to him.

"So what, are you going to serenade me with a love song?" Yamato teased once Taichi had finished tuning the violin, hiding his surprise.

Taichi opened his eyes. "Well I could," He said thoughtfully. He grinned at Yamato, drawing the bow across, as he drawled, _"I~~! Can't help~ falling in love~ with you~~"_

"Taichi!" Yamato cupped his hands over his ears, but he was grinning, "Stop!"

"_LIKE A RIVER FLOWWWWSS~!"_

"TAICHI!"

Taichi grinned widely and lowered his bow, "Nah I don't think that's a good idea," he said in amusement, winking, "I'll leave the singing to you, Yamato."

Yamato just shook his head. "My ears." He said. He removed his hands from his ears, abused by both Taichi's miserable attempt at singing and the screechy sound of the violin he was sure Taichi had done on purpose. "That's a good idea."

"But," he continued, looking over at Taichi with surprise in his blue eyes, "I didn't know you played the violin."

Taichi shrugged, "Not many people know." He said with a smile that hid something Yamato couldn't identify.

"So, are you ready for your last surprise?"

Yamato smiled. He made his way to Taichi's bed, plopping down on it gracefully and crossing his arms, an amused look on his face. "Impress me." He said simply.

"Damn, don't stare at me like that," Taichi pouted, but his voice was teasing, "I'll get nervous."

Yamato blinked. "Should I not look at you then?"

Taichi seemed to ponder, "Close your eyes for a while."

He smiled as Yamato allowed his blue eyes to close. Holding the bow carefully, he inhaled, then bounced it on the violin strings, making sure to get each set of notes right.

Yamato frowned thoughtfully. The sound sounded familiar. He was startled out of his thoughts as Taichi drew the bow across the strings, producing high notes which had staccato beats. Yamato's eyes opened in surprise. Wait, was that-

His mouth was wide open as Taichi played a complicated series of notes he recognized, then began the melody after two long draws. The violin was producing legato sounds now, and the song was in a slightly higher register, but it was his song.

It was his song. Taichi was playing his song. Of course, he was playing it in a much slower tempo, and Yamato found himself smiling at the original rendition Taichi had made to his song. This was an even nicer surprise than the arcade. Taichi had indeed impressed him.

Yamato was so enamored with the nice touch Taichi had made to his song that he missed the entire first verse and chorus. He listened as Taichi drew the bow, to a high but not unpleasant note, holding onto it for about four and a half counts before releasing it into a mixed series of notes. He played the interlude smoothly, speeding up a little then slowing down at the second verse. Yamato smiled, and slid a hand into his pocket.

_Ironna koto sakiyomi shite shinpai shitemo shou ga nai _

_**Reading ahead into things and worrying won't do anything**_

_Hontou ni wakariaeru nara tachidomatte ii _

_**We can stop if we truly can understand each other**_

Yamato sang slowly, matching Taichi's tempo as he met the brunet's eyes. He smiled at Taichi who smiled back at him, his brown eyes shining.

_Tatakau kimochi no tonari ni yowaki ni naru kokoro mo aru __  
><em>_**  
><strong>__**There's a timid heart beside a fighting spirit **_

_Sonna toki mo nakama wa iru wasurerun ja nai _  
><em><strong><br>**__**My friends are here even then, I haven't forgotten that**_

Taichi looked at him in surprise, then smiled and closed his eyes.

_Saikou no kirifuda wo shimatte oite dou suru? _

_**What are you doing putting away your biggest trump card?**_

_Kakko warukutemo_  
><em>ii ja nai ka?<em>

_**So what if it's not cool?**_

It was strange, singing his song in such a slow tempo. But it was a nice change, and Yamato smiled as he drew out the last note of the phrase softly.

_Furimuku na mayowazu ni_  
><em>Yukeba iin da<em>

_**Don't turn back, just go on and don't get lost**_

He wondered if Taichi knew the song was for him.

Taichi hardly paused before the chorus, and Yamato looked at the brunet, impressed as Taichi drew the note on the violin for as long as his voice held it.

_Negai kanaeru kagi ore te ni aru _

_**The key that can make wishes come true is in my hand**_

_Michi e tsunagaru doa sugu soko daro _

_**The door to the unknown is right there**_

Taichi's fingers were moving more on the strings now, plucking at them as his bow flowed across with smooth ease, and Yamato smiled to himself as he sang; at how ironic the scene in front of him was. It was surprising, startling even, but somehow refreshing to see the brunet soccer captain being so, well, gentle and producing such a beautiful sound with a musical instrument. He inhaled for a quick breath, and made his decision.

_Tsukamitai ai wa mukaeba ii _

_**I should head towards the love I want to grasp**_

_Jibun no sekai wo hiraku no sa_

_**Open up my own world**_

Now he was sure, Taichi _was_ serenading him; playing his song on the violin in a sweetly slow tempo with pleasantly high notes with his eyes closed, that smile on his face. Yamato smile's widened as Taichi opened his eyes, looking at him in surprise.

Taichi played the guitar interlude on his violin in a legato style, and Yamato's smile widened. He had missed a few notes, but Yamato liked it all the same. It wasn't easy to turn a rock song into what sounded like a serenade after all. Yamato had composed the song himself; he should know. He would have never thought he'd ever be thinking this, but Taichi definitely had musical talent. He wondered when the brunet had time to develop it.

Yamato smiled. "Go slower." He said. "Slow down the tempo a little."

He wanted the song to last longer, even if it was going to end soon. Yamato watched as Taichi blinked, but nodded. He smiled at Yamato and ended the interlude with a series of slowly ascending notes when, compared to the swift electric sounds of the original composition of the Teenage Wolves' song, was a nice contrast.

_Negai kanaeru kagi sono te ni aru _

_**The key that can make wishes come true is in your hand**_

_Michi e tsunagaru doa sugu me no mae_

_**The door to the unknown is right before your eyes**_

_Wakiagaru kodou shinjireba ii_

_**You should believe in the racing beat of your heart**_

_Aratana sekai wo hiraku no sa_

_**Open up the new world**_

Yamato took his time singing the last chorus, smiling as he locked his gaze with Taichi's. Taichi was playing the last chorus in a sweetly slow version as he smiled at him, and Yamato drew out the word at the end of each phrase smoothly, changing the parts where he sang fast to a slower rendition which suited the melody of Taichi's violin.

When he reached the end, he held the last high note of the song, letting it dissipate softly into the air together with Taichi's last high note.

Yamato stared at Taichi expectantly and the brunet blinked, seeming to have stopped in his playing. "Ah," he said, "I forgot the last part."

Yamato grinned at that, and clapped his hands, "Amazing performance," he said genuinely. "I'm very impressed."

Taichi flushed, "You think so?" He said, an unusual shyness to his voice.

"Yeah," Yamato said as he shifting his gaze, slipping a hand into his pocket. He smiled as he felt Taichi's gaze on him. "It isn't easy to play one of my band's songs on an instrument like the violin."

"It isn't." Taichi confirmed, his voice slightly tired. He slapped a hand to his forehead, grimacing, "Ah damn, I had no idea you were going to sing! I should have recorded it or something!"

Yamato smirked as he fished his phone out of his pocket, turning it so that the screen faced Taichi.

"You mean like this?"

Taichi stared. Then he leapt forward onto Yamato, who swiftly moved the phone out of Taichi's grasp, "Hey, Yamato! Let me listen!"

"Nope," Yamato said teasingly. "Maybe another time."

"But Yamato!" Taichi whined, "I want to listen to your voice!"

"You're listening to my voice right now." Yamato smirked as he spoke.

"Your singing voice!" Taichi amended with a glare and Yamato grinned.

"Well I can let you listen to one of my CDs…" he said, pretending to contemplate.

Taichi glowered at him, and Yamato gave him an innocent look, "C'mon Yama!" He insisted pleadingly, "You also recorded my playing, right? So I have a right to listen to it!"

"Yeah I decided to record because I wanted to listen to you playing the violin. I knew you wouldn't mind." Yamato said smoothly, giving Taichi what he knew was an angelic smile. Taichi stared at him and he raised an eyebrow, "Shouldn't you get off me? You wouldn't want to accidentally damage your precious violin now, would you?"

Taichi continued staring. Then he realized their awkward position, as he held his violin and bow in one hand rather carelessly. He grimaced and reluctantly got off his smirking boyfriend, sighing as he carefully checked his violin for any possible damage. "You're so mean, Yama."

"Mhmmm." Yamato was smiling widely as he saved the recording on his phone. He pocketed his phone once he was done, raising himself from the bed. "I am impressed, really."

Taichi turned away from where he had placed his violin and bow gently down on his study table. He smiled hopefully at Yamato. "Does that mean you'll let me listen?"

"But Taichi," Yamato said, blinking innocent blue eyes, "Isn't this your Valentines' Day gift to me? How could you take it back?"

"I-I'm not taking it back- I just want to listen-" Taichi grimaced as Yamato looked at him sadly, and proceeded to pout. "H-Hey Yamato! Don't pout! That's not fair!"

"Why Tai?" Yamato made his lower lip quiver, grinning inwardly at the conflicted expression on Taichi's face at the use of his nickname. Teasing Taichi was too fun. He made a mental note to do it more often.

"T-That's because-" Taichi stuttered.

Yamato sighed. He raised his gaze to Taichi, looking at him with sad blue eyes. "I'm disappointed in you Taichi," he said, using all his willpower to keep from laughing. His lips twitched. "I'd thought you would understand…" he trailed off, certain that if he spoke anymore he would burst out into uncontrollable laughter.

Yamato turned away from Taichi, as the brunet spoke, "E-Eh?" He sounded surprised, "Yamato…"

Yamato bit his lip hard to prevent himself from giving away his act. "J-Just leave me alone."

"Yamato…" Taichi's voice was soft and Yamato wondered if he had gone too far. He sniffed, and allowed himself a quick smirk as he heard Taichi gasp, his weight pressing down on the bed, "Yamato! Hey, Yamato! Are you crying?"

Yamato sniffled, biting his lip so hard he almost drew blood. He raised a hand and pretended to wipe his eyes as Taichi's voice resounded, "Ah damn! I'm sorry, Yamato! I'm sorry!" He felt a hand clap on his shoulder, "I'm really sorry! I won't listen to it, okay? You can have it all to yourself!"

"So please…don't cry!"

Yamato began to feel a bit bad. He couldn't believe Taichi was really buying his act. Perhaps if being a rockstar didn't work out he could turn to the acting industry.

The blond rockstar sniffed again, unable to resist the urge to prolong his act a little longer. "Really?"

"Really!" Taichi confirmed quickly. His brown eyes softened and he wrapped his arms around Yamato, resting his head on his shoulder and whispering by his ear. "I'm sorry, Yamato, for being an idiot on Valentines' Day. I promise I won't listen to it as long as you don't want me to," The brunet soccer captain bit his lip, tightening his arms around his love. "I love you, Yamato. I hate seeing you cry. You can hit me as hard as you want for being an idiot, if it makes you feel better."

"So please…don't cry."

Alright, now he was really feeling bad. And extremely guilty. Taichi sounded truly anguished. Yamato sighed. "Taichi…"

"Yamato…" Taichi replied softly, and he felt a gentle hand on his chin. "Look at me?"

Yamato knew his act was up. He smiled and turned around to face Taichi, who scooted back a little. "Taichi?"

Taichi raised his hand to cup Yamato's cheek, whispering as he stared into Yamato's deep blue eyes. "Yeah, Yamato?"

"You're an idiot." Seeing the hurt in Taichi's eyes, Yamato quickly continued, "For believing my act."

"…What?" Taichi said. "Your act?"

Yamato couldn't hold it in any longer, he let the grin he had been holding back spread across his face, "Yeah, I was acting!" He shook his head, an amused smile on his lips as he held a hand to his forehead, laughing, "I can't believe you actually fell for it!"

Taichi was so shocked his hand fell from Yamato's cheek onto the bed. "I-uh-" He began, but couldn't finish what he was attempting to say as Yamato leaned forward and kissed him softly.

Yamato drew back, and smiled softly at the dumfounded Taichi. "You're so sweet, Taichi," he murmured, his hands around the brunet's neck sliding down to his shoulders. "Even if it wasn't real, thank you."

"And," he said as Taichi remained silent, grinning slightly, "Of course I was going to let you listen to our duet!"

"A-Ah." Taichi managed weakly. He blinked. Yamato watched as he blinked again, then frowned, crossing his arms, "Damn it Yamato, you really scared me!" Taichi glared at him half-heartedly, "I was_ really_ worried!"

"Sorry," Yamato murmured, placing an apologetic kiss on Taichi's cheek. He smiled sheepishly at the frazzled brunet. "I couldn't resist."

"Forgive me…Tai?"

"…You're lucky I love you so much," Taichi finally said, grumbling and flushing, and Yamato grinned. "If it were anyone else…"

"I know." Yamato said smoothly, though he couldn't hide the happiness in his voice. "You know, Taichi…"

"Yeah?"

"You gave me the courage to take the key," Yamato said breathlessly as he looked into Taichi's eyes. He smiled. "I'm glad I opened the door."

"It was about you," he confessed at Taichi's surprised look. The blond felt his face warm, and resisted the urge to look away as he let his arms fall away from Taichi's shoulders. "I…wrote the lyrics for you. But because I didn't have the courage- I modified them so they would seem more attributed to friendship."

There. He had said it. He had finally told Taichi that he had written the Teenage Wolves' hit song for him, and that it was not just a rock song- at least, he hadn't intended it to be a rock song at the start. But a rock band singing a song that wasn't a rock song- it wouldn't have fit at all, especially for their first performance.

"Yamato…" Taichi murmured, his eyes gaining the glimmer of realization, "What…are the true lyrics?"

"_The key that can make my wishes come true is already in my hand. The door to the unknown is right in front of me."_ Yamato spoke, meeting Taichi's intense brown eyes. _"I should head towards the love I want to grasp. Open up my new world."_

"Friendship…our friendship was the key," Yamato said. He bit his lip, inhaling, "The unknown is what the future could hold for us- love."

Yamato averted his gaze, wondering how Taichi would react. They were together now, but he still couldn't help but feel that sense of insecurity and uncertainty. It was hard to get rid of something which he had been used to feeling his entire life.

Taichi stared. Then he smiled, and brought Yamato close. "We're in the new world now." He murmured into Yamato's soft blond hair.

"This is our new world, Yamato."

Yamato blinked, then smiled. "Tai…" He whispered, smiling a happy smile as tears pricked his blue eyes. "You revived my love for dancing, you let me watch the movie I wanted to watch with you, and now you've given me the pleasure of listening to beautiful music…" the blond sighed as he rested his chin on Taichi's shoulder, breath billowing across his ear. "Thank you, Taichi. This is the best Valentines' Day ever."

"I'm glad, Yamato…" Taichi whispered back, "No matter what, I want you to be happy."

"I'm happy with _you_, Taichi."

Taichi smiled. "You changed the lyrics just now."

Yamato smirked, looking up at him. "How many times have you listened to my song?"

He watched in amusement as Taichi blushed. "Uh…" he said, "A lot?"

Yamato laughed and kissed Taichi's cheek.

"I love you, Taichi."

* * *

><p>Well. This chapter cheered me up a little.<p>

I've enabled the anoymous review feature so please review. But if your review is going to be a flame, disguised in 'con crit' or not, then please don't waste my time and your time. Like one of my reviewers said, don't judge if 'you yourself can't prove any story worth reading'. Sorry but I have to say this, I'm really weary of all this shit that seems to hit only me. See the reviews section for Door if you want to know what I mean. And I can differentiate between what's constructive criticism and what's a flame. From now on, flames will be ignored. If you think I'm being pathetic and I'm ruining the nice ending of this chapter and am going to flame me or express your harsh opinion, go ahead and waste your time. But spare a thought of how you would feel if your long stories get not only little reviews but flames as well. I would have stopped writing long ago, if I didn't love it too damn much.

Thank you for reading.


	12. Their New World

Wow been so long since I wrote for this. And this chapter's optional with all the drama. Kind of, since the last chapter ended quite nicely. But this was how it was meant to go.

To _anon_: _Sorry for the late reply._ _It's been so long since your review but I'm still gonna reply it. No, I wasn't copying anyone's style, I have my own style and I stick to it, no matter how many reviews I get. And no, I didn't take your review as a flame because it wasn't. I took it as an opinion and a bit of con crit even before you said it was. Tai and Matt may not have seemed like themselves 'cause I'm using the Japanese version, and in my opinion, their characters are more developed there. I didn't watch the dub/English version, that's why I always use 'Taichi' and 'Yamato'. Negai Kanaeru Kagi (The Key to Granting Wishes) is Yamato's official character song, so I don't think I strayed out of character. But if you still think they're out of character then okay, that's your opinion. It's also fine if you think Taichi playing the violin in unbelievable, after all I didn't give his backstory. I appreciate you just said that, and didn't go into a long tirade like someone else, so thanks. As for the 'con crit' review, I assure you, that was a flame. The person insulted me and my profile when it didn't have anything to do with the story. And I'm not the only one who thinks this, my reviewers think so too, you can read what they say. I'd also like to assure you I do not ignore flames, because I do not run away. I did not ignore the flame, I posted my own reply in an Author's Note in Door. You can read that and why it pissed me off. But thanks for your opinion, I appreciate it. And yes partly because of another flame, I have written a story to explore Taichi's character. So, I really am not the type who ignores flames, even though I want to. I apologize if I gave you the wrong impression. Thank you for caring enough to write a review._

This should be the second last chapter of this story. Next should be the Epilogue, for it's time this story ended. Well, enjoy.

* * *

><p>"…Really?"<p>

Yamato blinked as he noticed the uncertain expression on Taichi's face, "Tai?" He questioned, frowning slightly, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing…" Taichi smiled.

"Liar," Yamato said, but without an accusing tone in his voice. His dark blue eyes softened and he rested a hand on Taichi's cheek. "Something's been bothering you since we left the park."

"What is it, Taichi?"

Taichi stared, then sighed, as if he couldn't believe he had been caught. He then turned his gaze back to Yamato, looking into those deep, concerned pools of blue, "It's just…sometimes I don't think I deserve you."

"…Huh?"

"Yamato, you're handsome, you're a pretty boy, you're famous and a rockstar," Taichi spoke slowly, meeting Yamato's confused eyes. "You could have anyone you want, and yet you picked me."

"What are you saying, Taichi?" Yamato felt a dose of fear rise in him. He wasn't- Taichi wasn't going to, was he? He couldn't be-

"I mean, I really love you, but sometimes…" Taichi sighed, then raised his serious gaze to Yamato. "Sometimes I can't help but think you deserve someone better, you know? Someone like Sora."

"…Why are you saying that?"

Taichi gave him a wry smile, "'Cause I was the one who helped her to confess to you," he revealed, causing Yamato's eyes to widen in surprise. "Yeah I know, ironic, huh? I don't know how I got so lucky to get you."

"I…" Yamato bit his lip, "Taichi…you…you aren't breaking up with me, aren't you?"

"Eh? Of course not!" Taichi said, surprised. "It's just that someone like Sora would be better-"

"You idiot!" Yamato glared at him, blue eyes filled with tears. Taichi's eyes grew wide as the blond rockstar yelled at him, "Yagami Taichi, you idiot! I don't love Sora! I love _YOU_!"

"Y-Yamato…"

"Haven't you thought about my feelings at all?" Yamato narrowed his eyes at Taichi, glaring hurtfully, "Especially after I told you I wrote my song for _you_?_!_ I thought you would understand!"

"Yamato, I-" Taichi started as Yamato pushed him away and got off the bed, stalking angrily to the door. "Wait, Yamato!"

Yamato ignored the pin prick of déjà vu mixed with the irony of the situation. "Leave me alone!" He screamed as he stomped to the door, tears trailing down his face. He wasn't pretending this time-no, the hurt in his heart was real. "Don't follow me!"

It hurt, knowing that Taichi- that Taichi didn't trust him enough to believe their relationship would work. So what if Sora was a girl and Taichi was a guy? Didn't Taichi get it? He didn't love Sora! He loved that idiot, thick-headed brunet!

It was so damned ironic that after he had told Taichi that this was the best Valentines' Day ever, it was turning out to be the worst. It was so fucking ironic that Yamato wanted to laugh, but all he could manage was choked sobs from his throat.

The blond rockstar stopped at the door, but only because Taichi had wrapped his arms around him, preventing him from moving another step. "Yama-"

"Let go of me!" Yamato whirled around, glaring at Taichi so fiercely that the brown haired boy looked taken aback. He shoved Taichi away roughly as the brunet was distracted by his surprise, and continued on his path to the door. He could feel his past self resurfacing- that him who was insecure, who shoved everyone away because he didn't want to be hurt anymore. Yamato clenched his fist. He hated it, but couldn't find the strength to push it down.

"No!" Taichi yelled, grabbing his wrist before his hand could touch the doorknob. Yamato shot him a death glare but Taichi didn't back down this time, staring resolutely forward, "I'm not letting you go!" He gripped Yamato's wrist tightly, "I'm holding on tight so you don't run away from me!"

"Run away? Run away?_!_" Yamato exclaimed incredulously, "Look who was running away!"

Taichi's expression didn't falter- neither did his tight grip on Yamato. Yamato growled, and with strength fuelled by anger, dealt a hard punch to Taichi's stomach, causing him to gasp and lighten his hold on Yamato's wrist. The blond ripped his wrist away from the doubled over brunet.

"Y-Yamato-"

Yamato duly ignored Taichi, turning the doorknob and opening the door. He took one step out of Taichi's room but was pulled back in almost roughly, the sound of the door slamming following soon after.

Taichi slammed him against the now closed door and Yamato winced. He glared in disbelief up at the holder of courage as he felt Taichi pin him against the wall, detaining his wrists with his hands.

"Get the hell off me!"

"No." Taichi said tersely. He looked at Yamato, a dark anger in his brown eyes which would have surprised Yamato had he not been so pissed off. He tightened his grip on Yamato's wrists. "I've always believed actions speak louder than words."

With those words, he leaned down and captured Yamato's lips in a passionate, almost rough kiss. Yamato's eyes widened and he struggled in his trapped position, feeling fear rise in him. Although they had had equal strength in the past, Taichi was now an athlete and was probably stronger than him. He wouldn't be able to stop him if he decided to-

"Taichi, stop!" Yamato gasped a protest as he felt Taichi's hand slide up his shirt, tweaking his nipple, "Taichi-ah!"

"Yamato." Taichi growled lowly into Yamato's neck, a sound that made the blond freeze. "Do you believe me now?"

Taichi never…sounded like that. Yamato was reminded of the side of Taichi he had seen at the arcade just several hours ago- the Taichi who looked almost dangerous with that wild anger in his eyes. He felt himself begin to involuntarily shake, and stared up at his spiky haired boyfriend with tears spilling out of his fearful blue eyes.

"T-Taichi…"

Yamato was scared. He was scared of Taichi, fearful of his love. He was scared of the stranger he saw in front of him, inhabiting Taichi's body. The blond rockstar choked as sobs built up in his throat, his slender frame trembling. He wanted the old Taichi back, the Taichi who was gentle, sweet and kind, who understood him like no one else did, like nobody else could, the Taichi whom he could understand.

Taichi blinked his dark, angry eyes. He removed his mouth from Yamato's neck, looking down at Yamato. He blinked another time.

Yamato watched tearfully as the brunet's brown eyes widened, care and concern and love returning to them. "Oh god." Taichi whispered as he stared at the tears on Yamato's cheeks. "What have I done?"

"Yamato…" Taichi quickly released Yamato's wrists, raising his hands to Yamato's tear stained cheeks. His brown eyes softened, full of guilt, "Fuck, I really am the worst. I really am an idiot. I'm so sorry, Yamato…I really don't' deserve you."

Yamato choked, tears falling from his dark blue eyes as he stared at Taichi, "Don't say that anymore…" he whispered. "Just…hold me." He managed, giving in to his emotions. _"So that I know you're here with me. That you aren't going to leave."_

"I won't." Taichi said quickly. He bit his lip, then slid his hands down to Yamato's shoulders, pulling the blond against him, "I won't say that anymore if you don't want to hear it, Yamato."

"I'm so sorry." Taichi whispered as he held Yamato close to him, his brown eyes full of the deep regret in his low voice. "I'm so sorry, Yamato."

Yamato sobbed softly, burying his face into Taichi's chest as he clung desperately onto Taichi's shirt. Taichi was back. His love was back, holding him and comforting him and apologizing-when he was the one who should be apologizing. Taichi hadn't left him.

"Taichi," Yamato choked out, his voice hoarse with crying, "I just want to know one thing."

"What is it, Yamato?" Taichi said softly. "Ask away. I'll tell you anything you want to know. I won't keep anything from you anymore."

"Do you…" Yamato choked back a sob as he drew away from Taichi's soaked shirt, looking into the brown eyes of the one he loved. "Love me?"

Yamato never thought he'd be in this position one day, crying and asking his boyfriend if he loved him. He was acting like an insecure teenage girl and he hated it. But then, this wasn't about being girly. This was about being in love-possibly unrequited love.

What if Taichi didn't feel as intensely for him as he did him- what if Taichi didn't really love him but thought he did? Yamato didn't know how he would deal with that. He could deal with these rifts in their relationship, but he wouldn't be able to stand it if Taichi really didn't love him like he thought he did. Yamato bit his lip, feeling his eyes burn with tears.

"Yeah, I love you," Taichi said without hesitation, as he stared into Yamato's blue eyes which were filling up with tears, and Yamato could see the feelings Taichi held for him in his heart in his soft brown eyes. His hands clutched tightly onto Yamato's shoulders. "I really love you, Yamato."

"You're breaking my heart with your tears, because I love you so damn much…" Taichi murmured, brushing his thumb against a tear rolling down Yamato's cheek. "I'm really sorry, Yamato. Please don't cry anymore."

Breaking his heart- he was breaking Taichi's heart? Yamato chewed on his lip as he saw the shine of tears in Taichi's eyes. He had never wanted to break Taichi's heart. No matter how much Taichi hurt him, it would be fine. He was used to getting hurt and being alone. But Taichi wasn't. Taichi was always so bright and sunny, like the sun in Yamato's life. He wouldn't know such deep emotional pain. Yamato didn't want Taichi to go through the same pain he did. The pain of being hurt by someone you loved.

Yamato sniffed. He forced himself to inhale, pushing down all his sorrowful feelings, his feelings of insecurity and his fear which had accumulated from his years of being alone- and refused to fade away completely even when he had a new life, and someone he loved. He raised his hand and wiped his tears forcefully away.

"Yamato?"

"Taichi," Yamato began when he was ready, raising his red-rimmed blue eyes. Taichi was still staring at him with that love in his brown eyes which made Yamato's heart ache. "I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?" Taichi asked. "I'm the one at fault."

"I'm the one to blame," Yamato contradicted guiltily. He cleared his throat, then met Taichi's worried brown eyes. "I shouldn't have stormed off like that."

"I made you angry, Yamato. You had every right to walk off like you did." Taichi replied with a sigh. "I was an idiot for stopping you."

"But you didn't know why I was angry, did you?" Yamato said, a wry smile on his lips.

Taichi shook his head hesitantly and Yamato smiled. He placed a hand on his boyfriend's shoulder. "Well, you can be dense sometimes so I'll tell you."

"Hey!" Taichi said indignantly and Yamato cracked a small grin.

"What? It's true."

Taichi pouted, "Fine, I'm dense," he said grumpily, "Now tell me you…not so dumb blond."

Yamato raised an eyebrow, "That's the best you could come up with?"

Taichi's pout deepened. "Oh shut up."

Yamato felt a grin curve his lips. It seemed that things were returning to normal. "Come on," he said as he grabbed Taichi's wrist. "This isn't exactly a comfortable position. Let's sit down on the bed, then we'll talk."

"Are you sure?" Taichi asked hesitantly as Yamato pulled him along.

Yamato blinked. Then he looked back at Taichi, giving him a genuine smile. "I trust you." He said simply. "You know that, right?"

"And I betrayed your trust," he heard Taichi murmur, almost too soft for him to hear. "I won't let you down again in the future."

Yamato smiled. He sat down on Taichi's bed, pulling Taichi down with him. "Do you know why I told you I wrote my song for you?"

"Why?"

"'Cause I wanted you to let you know how far I was willing to go for my-our love," Yamato said as he gripped Taichi's hand tightly. He shifted his gaze to Taichi's expectant brown eyes. "You told me we're in our new world, so I thought you understood."

"I thought you wanted to advance into this new world with me," Yamato confessed, as he locked his gaze with Taichi's. "That like me, you had believed in the racing beat of your heart. No matter what others thought about us, you would pursue this relationship with me, venture into our…unknown future, together."

"It was…so hard to write the song. But it was the only way I could think of to tell you my feelings. Though I chickened out in the end because I didn't want to ruin our friendship-"

"And I will." Taichi interrupted Yamato and the blond blinked. He smiled, "You don't have to say anything more, Yamato. I understand now."

"Is…that so?" Yamato attempted to remain casual. Though the subject of their conversation was anything but casual.

"Uhuh." Taichi nodded. His smile gained a sad edge, "I'm sorry you misunderstood, Yamato. I wasn't saying I didn't want to- that I didn't love you enough to pursue our relationship. I didn't mean that at all."

"I meant," Taichi said before Yamato could voice. Yamato blinked, then looked at him expectantly, "That I loved you. I wanted you to be happy, but I really wasn't sure you were happy with me."

"But I told you I was happy with you." Yamato said quietly.

"I was afraid you would change your mind," Taichi said. He sighed, placing a hand on the back of his head. "I was being a selfish idiot. We're both guys, so I was afraid in the future you would not want to be with me anymore, when things get tougher with societal expectations in our...patriarchal society. That you would rather be with a girl."

"So I thought…I might as well hasten the process now," Taichi said, meeting Yamato's slightly hurt gaze. "I'm sorry. I wasn't planning on breaking up with you or anything. I guess I just wanted to make sure you were willing to be with me, rather than someone like Sora, who also has feelings for you."

"I told you," Yamato said softly. "I don't love Sora, Taichi. I love you."

"Yeah, I've…realized that now." Taichi replied with a smile.

"My parents divorced," Yamato said suddenly. Taichi looked at him in surprise. The blond clenched his fist, taking a calming breath, and met Taichi's eyes. "Because of them, I don't believe in love in marriage. And I've never believed in love either, until I fell in love with you."

"So…saying I should be with Sora, whom I don't love," Yamato sighed, averting his gaze from Taichi's. "Suggesting that I should be with a girl like her so that society will accept me- it just, really hurt."

"I'm used to being unaccepted, being rejected. But this time, I thought it would be better since I would have you," Yamato's voice was soft, "If I…went the conventional route for the sake of being accepted by society, it…wouldn't be fair to Sora either. I don't want to…hurt her more than I already have."

"And," he added, looking up at Taichi, "It wouldn't be fair to you."

"I…" Taichi stared hesitantly. "Didn't know you felt that way…"

"I'm sorr-"

"Don't apologize!" Yamato said almost harshly and Taichi stopped in surprise. He sighed and withdrew his hand. "Just, don't. You just wanted the best for me."

"Because I love you." Taichi said.

"Yeah." Yamato replied. "Because you love me."

"So," Taichi said slowly, a hint of disappointment in his voice, "We're not getting married in the future?"

Yamato blinked. He turned his gaze to Taichi, who was looking at him with a serious gaze. "You believe in marriage, huh?" He said, lips curling, "Maybe I wouldn't mind, if it's you."

"Eh? But you said-"

Yamato raised an eyebrow, his customary smirk appearing on his lips. "What?" He drawled. "You don't want to marry me, Taichi? Jun will be so disappointed."

"I-uh-" Taichi blabbered, brown eyes wide, "I thought you didn't want-"

Yamato just shrugged. "I don't know if we'll be married in the future," he said simply. He shifted his gaze to Taichi. "But, I know you believe in marriage. So let's hope we'll be married, hmm, say, ten years down the road."

"T-Ten years?" Yamato smiled in amusement as Taichi started to count on his fingers, "T-That's pretty early…"

Yamato smirked. "It's good to be married early, isn't it?"

"I-I guess," Taichi said uncertainly. He regarded Yamato, swallowing, "Will you…really do that, Yamato? It's fine if we don't get married, really-"

"Stop being so selfless Taichi, you're making me feel guilty," Yamato said bluntly. Taichi stared, and he let a soft smile cross his lips, "Idiot. You want us to be married, don't you?"

"P-Perhaps…"

"I said I didn't believe in love in marriage; because my father's and mother's marriage didn't have love. I couldn't see the love that had brought them together," Yamato spoke as he stared at the ceiling. He sighed, then looked upon Taichi with a gentle smile. "But we're not like that, are we?"

"We aren't." Taichi reassured him with a smile. He reached out, touching the back of Yamato's hand. "I promise we won't be."  
><strong><em><br>_**"Thank you Taichi." Yamato replied, gratefulness in his voice. His expression dampened slightly as a realization came to him, "But…if we have to make a sacrifice- if we have to sacrifice our future marriage for our families, you'll understand…won't you?"

"Of course!" Taichi said cheerfully, grinning. He clasped Yamato's hand, winking, "Hey, I don't really need marriage either! All I need is your love."

Yamato smiled. "And all I need is yours."

"Then we'll be fine!" The brown haired boy said, and Yamato smiled to see his sunny demeanour had returned. Taichi tilted his head slightly, smiling. "Though, it'll be nice if we got married."

"Yeah." Yamato admitted, laying back on the bed. "It would be."

"Hey Yamato…" Taichi said after the silence between them lasted for a while. He sounded nervous. "You haven't told me if you liked my surprise yet."

Yamato blinked. Really- hadn't he been obvious enough? But he smiled, and raised his back off the bed. "I loved it." He corrected Taichi. He smiled and raised his lips to Taichi's, "I love you."

"Look who's being cheesy." Taichi teased once he had gotten over his surprise and Yamato smirked.

"What can I say? I've been influenced by a romantic." Taichi blushed and Yamato laughed, smirking up at him, "A romantic violinist."

"Oh shut up, you're making me blush."

Yamato chuckled, and laid back down on the bed, resting his arms behind his head, smiling. "I love your music." He said honestly. "You should join my band."

"Nah, a violin isn't a suitable instrument for a band!"

"But you were playing my band's song." Yamato said. "We could get an electric violin."

Taichi shook his head. "I'd rather watch you." He said.

"Well," Yamato said, hiding his disappointment with a smile, "Play me another song then."

"Sure," Taichi agreed cheerfully, "What song do you want?"

"You can play your favorite song," Yamato said as he stretched out comfortably on Taichi's bed, a smile on his lips, "And do it properly this time."

He smiled, closing his eyes as Taichi moved off the bed. He soon came back and sat on the bed beside him, playing his favorite song smoothly. He sang softly, and Yamato found himself humming along with him, blue eyes closed in contentment at the soothing music.

"Your English teacher would be proud if he heard you." Yamato commented in wry amusement, his eyes closed.

Taichi just shrugged with a grin, "Well, it's a song! You have English in your songs too." He reminded.

Yamato opened his eyes. "Well, I'm glad I've been a good influence on your English capability." He said with a smile.

He closed his eyes again, and heard Taichi's voice. "Hey Yamato," Taichi sounded like he was smiling. "If we ever get married, can this be our wedding song?"

Yamato smiled. Taichi really wanted them to be married, huh? Well, he couldn't deny marriage was a much more appealing prospect if it was with Taichi.

"Sure."

"We'll have to hire people to play it for us," Taichi continued, "And someone to sing it too."

"Or we could sing it." Yamato said casually. He opened his eyes, to find Taichi looking at him in surprise, smiling, "But I think I'd be too nervous on that day to sing anything."

"Me too." Taichi agreed with a smile.

The relaxed atmosphere in their relationship had returned. Yamato felt a sudden gladness fill him. Taichi was still here with him. Taichi understood him. Taichi accepted him. And even if somehow, for some reason or another, they couldn't get married in the future, Yamato was sure Taichi would understand.

Because Taichi loved him.

Yamato smiled. He yawned, and Taichi turned his gaze to him. "Mind if I fall asleep on your bed?" The blond rockstar asked sleepily, closing his eyes. "I'm feeling tired."

"Go ahead," Taichi said generously. "I'll cuddle with you when you fall asleep."

Yamato cracked open one amused, blue eye, "Not now?"

"That would work too!" Taichi declared brightly.

"Awww," Yamato said, smirking, "That means I can't listen to your music, huh?"

"Eh…" Taichi looked torn.

Yamato grinned up at him, "C'mon," he patted the bed beside him. "Get your ass over here already Yagami."

Taichi stared. "You really like to torture me," he said wryly and Yamato laughed. The brunet shook his head, "Fine fine, if it's for you, Yama."

Yamato smirked. "Oh shut up and sleep with me."

"Hey, we have school tomorrow!" Taichi joked as he placed his violin back onto the table. He raised an eyebrow, brown eyes amused as he eyed Yamato, whose shirt was riding up his stomach. "Stop stretching out like that or I won't be able to resist!"

Yamato stared up at him with innocent blue eyes, his hands above his head. "Resist what?"

"…Yamato!"

Yamato laughed as Taichi swatted him playfully. "Alright, I'll be as still as a rock," he said in amusement. He then proceeded to lay absolutely still for the next few seconds.

Taichi stared, then sighed. "You're impossible Ishida…" he said wryly. "You sure you aren't drunk or anything?"

Yamato couldn't resist, "Yeah Tai baby, I'm drunk on our love."

"Is that my fault?" Taichi shook his head. He laid out on the bed beside Yamato, turning to the blond, smiling, "Am I giving you too much love?"

"Hmmm…" Yamato made a thoughtful noise. He gave Taichi a playful smirk, "Well, I don't think you're giving me enough. Why don't you give me more?"

Taichi stared as Yamato rolled his hips in a decidedly sexy way, "If I give you anymore, you'll be practically intoxicated." He managed weakly.

"Can't resist me, Yagami?" Yamato taunted, smirking as he felt Taichi's gaze travel down his body. He ran a hand through his blond hair, blue eyes as dark as the night shining in amusement. He gave a mock sigh. "Don't worry, I understand. I know I'm sexy and irresistible."

"Narcissist," Taichi accused, hitting Yamato lightly on the head, but he couldn't resist a grin, "Whatever, Ishida Yamato."

"Mhmm." Yamato smirked as Taichi muttered something about stupid, irresistible, tempting boyfriends. "I must say I admire your self-control, Yagami Taichi."

"Willpower is more like it," Taichi muttered more, and Yamato's lips quirked. "You're cuter when you don't talk."

"But you love me when I do."

But Taichi shook his head, "I love you either way," he said casually. He smiled and shifted to bring his arms around Yamato as they laid on the bed. "I guess I just love you."

"And I love you 'cause you're you." Yamato smiled, tilting his head. "Will you hold me, Taichi?"

"Do you even have to ask?" Taichi smirked slightly. Yamato rested his head against his chest and he smiled, holding the blond securely in his arms. "I'd hold you forever if it was possible, just like this."

Yamato smiled, feeling the insecurity that had plagued him for years slowly begin to fade away. "Goodnight, Taichi."

He smiled as he felt Taichi's lips curve into a smile against his forehead, his breath tickling his blond locks as he allowed his dark blue eyes to slip closed.

"Goodnight, Yamato. Happy Valentines' Day."

* * *

><p>…And Yamato forgot all about his Valentines' Day Gift to Taichi =x<p> 


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